Napu's Purpose
by BlackBlur87
Summary: Ever wonder what happened to all the extra chakra energy Aang lost when Azula struck him down? A budding conman and his friends might have the answers. Too bad the fire nation is also asking. Takes place prior to season three.
1. Prologue

**Napu's Purpose**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.**

A/N:

"**Means character speech"**

'**_Means character thoughts'_**

**----- Means Scene change**

Prologue 

"Stop!" A merchant's voice orders at the fleeing youth carrying a sack of stolen food, but the boy continued running as if a pack of Saber-tooth Moose-lions were nipping at his heels. Realizing that the distance between him and the thief was steadily increasing, the merchant quickly runs into the small village's only teashop to alert the authorities inside.

"Help! I've been robbed!" He pleaded upon locating the peacekeeping force. Three officers rose from the table they were occupying to come to the aid of the distressed merchant.

"Which way did they go?" the lead officer inquires. The merchant shakes his head and points to the door.

"It was that same kid who claimed to be the Avatar before the fire nation distributed the wanted poster. He didn't have his bender friends with him so you should be able to catch him before he disappears this time!" The three officers knock over their table and spill the tea on the floor in their haste to get out the door.

'_Him again!_' is the only thought on all three officers' minds as they begin pursuit…


	2. Ch 1: Moving Out

Disclaimer: I don't Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. I do own the other characters that appear in my story.

**A/N: "Means character speech"**

'**_Means character thoughts_'**

**--- Means POV change**

**I wanted my characters to have authentic names, so I changed them all to resemble words that a friend helped me translate. Here's a key:**

**Napu / Lost  
**

**Lukat / Open  
**

**Bali / Unique  
**

**Tann / Fall  
**

**Ch 1: Moving Out **

Napu looked over his shoulder to find he had three familiar pursuers on his tail.

'_Not these guys again._' he thought with a sigh before stomping the ground and raising the arm not carrying the bag of stolen merchandise into the air. A pillar erupted from the ground beneath his feet and catapulted him onto the roof of a nearby house. The officers followed suit and catapulted themselves into the air with pillars of their own. The officers followed after Napu, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the same pattern for the third day in a row. Napu reached the final stretch of rooftops and jumped in between the last two buildings. Upon hitting the side of the first building, Napu pulled his arm in and bended a stepping-stone on the opposite building to leap to. He bounced down to the stepping-stone and pulled out another on the opposite side, making sure to retract the previous one he made. He continued this method until he had reached the bottom safely and kept running full sprint. The officers followed one at a time in a more awkward approached and resumed the chase upon hitting the bottom. The three officers made it to the outskirts of town in time to witness Napu curve around the same rock formation they lose him near. They hurry after him, but witness the same thing they always encounter: a barren hilltop with a small pond nearby. There are no signs of earthbending anywhere and no sign of him in the pond. They waited five minutes, but there wasn't so much as a ripple; way too long for anyone to hold their breath.

"How does he keep getting away?" One officer asked. "He can't do anything besides earthbend without his friends present."

"I don't know, but we need to tighten security around here." advised another. The final shook his head.

"We simply do not have the means. Most of the promising earthbenders around here have gone off to liberate Ba Sing Se from the fire nation. Avatar or not, this kid is too good at what he does." The officers hung their heads in shame as they slowly trekked back to their village...

* * *

'_Where can that brother of mine be_?' wondered a very annoyed Tann as she watched her sleeping companions. Her elder sister Bali and their friend Lukat were still unconscious, despite the sun shining through the mouth of the cave and resting on their faces. 

"It's already past noon. How can you two still be asleep?" Tann asked them. Her only responses were a few occasional snores. Tann rested her head on the cave wall and sighed. She took one final look at the pool of water in the cave floor before closing her eyes for a nap. The sound of water splashing roused Tann before she could sink into a deep slumber. She opened her eyes and looked over to where Napu was just climbing out of the pool of water.

"It's about time." Tann remarked. "If I had left tomorrow, I'd still be back before you."

"That's only because you'd find your way to the cave entrance, get lost, and head back inside." Napu retorted as he bended the excess water out of his clothes, hair, and the bag he was carrying.

"That's not funny brother!"

"What are you talking about? That's funnier than the law enforcement expecting me to surface time and again. As if I'd just stick my head above water and ask for them to arrest me." Napu laughed at the thought as he set the bag on the floor. Tann sighed.

"The only reason they expect you to surface is because they don't know you about your 'talent' for staying underwater so long. That and they don't know about the tunnel connecting the pool of water here with the lake you keep jumping into." She reminded.

"Well, that's because I used my amazing 'talents' to dig the tunnel." Napu boasted.

"Hey, I helped too!" Bali drowsily protested.

"Yeah," Napu agreed, waiting for his little sister to walk over to them before continuing. "You were a big help until we hit water. Then you swam like a rock until I pushed the water back through the hole."

"Hmmph." Bali snorted before turning around and crossing her arms. Tann got up and started helping Napu unpack the supplies and put them away.

"Well?" Bali inquired.

"What?" Napu asked innocently.

"Aren't you even going to apologize for making fun of me?" Bali demanded.

"How was I making fun of you?" Napu asked dumbfounded. '_Normally she doesn't make a fuss, unless…_'

"Is it that time of the month already?" Napu bluntly inquired. Bali angrily stomped the ground, opening a small hole beneath Napu's feet, deep enough to leave only his head above the surface. Bali raised her arms above her head and brought them down to pull a large rock down on Napu's head.

"Was that really necessary sister?" Tann asked nervously, not wanting to suffer like her brother had.

"Earthquake or Bali?" the last cave inhabitant yawned.

"I'll give you a hint, Lukat. An unstoppable force of nature." Tann supplied. Lukat yawned again.

"So…earthquake or Bali?" He asked before a blunt stalagmite caught him between the legs. Lukat doubled over in pain.

"Why couldn't it have been an earthquake?" he moaned. The sound of rock being split announced Napu's apparent survival and return.

"Guess that question's answered. I would have suffered a horribly painful experience had she been visited by her monthly friend." Napu deduced. "Ouch." He remarked upon noticing Lukat in the fetal position.

"Napu or Bali, can one of you set the table so we can get lunch started?" Tann requested, while she grabbed ingredients from the supplies that Napu brought with him.

"I would set up, but then we'd have to wait twice as long for lunch to be ready." Bali pointed out.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Napu asked crossly. Bali laughed.

"Isn't it obvious? You may be a talented bender, but your cooking must have suffered as a result." Napu didn't respond, choosing to silently walk over to the larger section of the change. He planted his feet in a stable position before raising his arms to pull up a block of earth for them to sit at. He then stomped his foot on the ground to make three small pillar for them to sit on. After a seconds consideration, Napu formed another 'chair' for Lukat.

'_Lukat will probably recover in time for lunch._' Napu figured. '_Bali isn't very focused when she first wakes up._' Ten minutes passed and a satisfactory lunch was ready. The girls and Napu sat at the makeshift table and waited for Lukat to crawl over before eating their fill. Once lunch was finished, Lukat cleared the table since he was the only one who didn't help with lunch. Lukat took the dirty dishes over to the pool of water and began scrubbing the food off. By the time he was halfway finished, Bali walked over and began helping.

"Geez. One minute she's mutilating him, then she's helping him with his chores." Napu observed confusedly. "Sometimes I wonder if Lukat knew he was risking his mortal life when he agreed to come with us."

"I'm sure he knew brother. Besides, sister's a lot calmer when he's around." Tann pointed out.

"That's true." Napu sighed.

"What's wrong brother?" Tann inquired.

"Nothing." Napu muttered.

"Don't give me that, brother." Tann pleaded. "Tell me what's wrong." Napu sighed again.

"Fine. I'm just worried about where we're going next."

"Where are we going next?" Tann wondered.

"That's just it. The next town over is expecting the arrival of the Avatar soon."

"What's wrong with that? You can probably scam some more donations out of people. We're running out of supplies and I don't like having to steal." Tann pointed out.

"Sorry, but I don't think that I'll be able to scam anybody anymore. Word has spread around this region that the Avatar is an airbender. I can't airbend, remember?" Tann nodded before turning to look at where Lukat and Bali were washing the dishes. Lukat brought back both arms as far as they would go and quickly clapped his hands together. A strong gust of wind encircled the dishes until they were completely dry.

"We can still try the back-up plan." Tann suggested, but Napu shook his head.

"If you mean trying to pass off Lukat as the Avatar, it won't work. Lukat's mother may have been a descendant of some air nomad who gave up his lifestyle to teach the nations down here, but that doesn't mean Lukatt can use airbending at will. He's barely mastered that drying trick of his from a few weeks ago." Napu reminded. Tann laughed.

"Do you remember how he found out he could airbend in the first place?" Napu laughed at the memory.

"Yeah, I think that poor town took beans off the menu. Too bad that's what they were known for."

"That wasn't my fault!" argued Lukat as he and Bali walked over.

"We might as well go Napu. It won't be much longer until the Fire nation catches wind of a bender who can control more than one element. We barely escaped last time." Bali pointed out, unconsciously touching the scar on her left arm given to her by the Fire nation raid on their home. It was the first time Napu sincerely regretted showing off his 'talents'.

"You're right. We should get packing so we can leave by nightfall." Napu decided. Everyone nodded, standing up and walking over to collect his or her things.

'_I'm not gonna have anyone else pay for my actions again._' Napu thought determinedly as he watched his friends pack their belongings...

* * *

A/N: And it's finally up. Chapter one is finally complete. Now I just have to type up the next chapter before I need to come up with more things for the story. Don't worry; this new group will meet up with the gaang soon. 


	3. Ch 2: Meetings and Misunderstandings

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. However, the characters I introduce are mine.

A/N: "Means character speech"

'_Means character thoughts_'

_FlashBack _(Indicated)

-- POV change

This is a really long chapter because I took the time to describe outfits. Not something I normally do for time consuming reasons, but I wanted to give my OC's a bit more depth.

**Ch 2: Meetings and Misunderstandings**

Napu and his friends wander beneath the cloak of the tranquil night sky. The only guide they have on their excursion are the glimmering lights of hundreds upon hundreds of stars. Napu and Tann were mapping out their path from the front while Bali and Lukat were watching for sneak attacks from behind.

"How much longer till we're there?" Bali wondered. "If I was wearing shoes, they'd be worn out at least a half hour ago."

"We've already reached the edge of the forest, so it shouldn't be that much longer. If we continue at this pace, we should be there by day-break." Tann assured.

"Maybe we should set up camp though." Napu suggested.

"Napu's right," Lukat agreed. "Clouds are rolling in and soon we won't have the stars to work with." Tann sighed.

"Yeah, you guys are right." Tann reluctantly agreed. "Is that spot over there okay?" She asked, pointing to a clearing just outside the forest.

"Does it really matter where we set up camp?" Bali inquired. She planted her feet in a stable position and used her arms to pull up an earthen dome for them to take refuge in.

"I guess not." Tann responded. '_Sometimes I forget how powerful she can be._' Tann thought silently as she watched her sister make her way over to their temporary dwelling. '_She's nearly half a foot shorter than me, but she has so much power. I wonder how I would compare if I was bender too_.'

"Aren't you coming Tann?" Lukat asked. Tann shook her head to break her chain of thoughts. She looked up to see Lukat and Napu staring at her. She nodded vigorously before following after Bali, leaving the boys to wonder what she had been thinking about...

* * *

Sunlight shines through the door of the shelter. The piercing light crept over to Napu's face, forcing him to turn over under his blanket. Lukat and Bali slept soundly inside their sleeping bags, but Tann's sleeping bag had already been rolled up. She straightens out her brown long-sleeved shirt and tightens the dark brown sash around her dark gray pants. Tann pulls her shoulder length black hair into a ponytail and grabs her quiver from its resting place. She then walks over and picks a long item wrapped in leather and tightly bound with rope. Tann undoes the ropes holding the leather in place and unwraps the custom Dao her father had transformed into a long bow. 

_Flashback_

_An arrow flies through the air and hits the target one ring away from the bulls-eye._

_"Yay! I almost got it! By the time Bali and Napu get back from Auntie Lin's, I'll hit the center!" An excited Tann declared as she jumped up and down. Her cheers were interrupted when she heard her father calling her._

_"Yes father?" She politely inquired._

_"Come over here. There is something that I want to show you." Curiosity getting the better of her, Tann hurried after her father as he entered his workshop._

_"Now, Tann. You are aware that as the top student in my dojo, I expect you to succeed me when I retire."_

_"Yes, father." Tann sadly acknowledged._

_"I'm sure you are also aware that I disapprove of your following your mother's teachings in long-range combat, as they go against the main teachings of my dojo."_

_"Yes, father," Tann replied sadly, knowing where the conversation was headed. Tann felt hot tears forming, expecting her father to tell her to give up archery. She turned around and headed for the door so she could take down the targets she'd been practicing with._

_"Where are you going Tann? You haven't seen what I wanted to show you." Tann reluctantly turned to face her father with tears of regret running down her face, but those tears quickly changed to those of joy when her eyes rested upon the object in her father's hands. In her father's hands was a Dao unlike anything Tann had seen before. A leather cord was wrapped around the finger hold cut out of the middle of the blade. A long wire stretched from the tip of the Dao, to the bottom of the hilt._

_"I've been thinking, Tann, that perhaps I've been foolish to try and force you away from something you care about so deeply. I thought that this would be a way for you to have both your mother and me there to watch over you."_

_"But where did you get such a thing?" Tann asked guiltily. "I hope you didn't spend our savings on this."_

_"Of course not!" her father defended. "Not too long ago, some nobles placed an order with me for a large supply of blades and spears for their guards. They were so pleased with the quality and speed of the delivery, that they included a nice bonus along with the pre-arranged price. I merely used some of my earnings to purchase the best metal I could and crafted it myself. I call it the Bow-Dao." Tann stood speechless as she stared at the weapon her father had crafted for her._

_"Do you like it?" he asked. A tight hug and a warm smile were all that Tann could manage, but the gratitude and appreciation were easily understood..._

_End Flashback_

Tann gazed at her Bow-Dao with a nostalgic expression before securing it and her quiver full of arrows to her back. She took one last look at her companions before slipping on her shoes and heading out the door as silently as she could.

Tann walked deeper into the woods with each step as she looked around for anything to serve as an early breakfast.

'_What's a girl have to do to find something to eat around here?_' Tann thought morbidly. Her growling stomach concurred.

"Score!" she exclaimed upon spotting some wild carrots protruding from the ground. Tann eagerly ran over to them and began digging them out of the ground.

'_There might even be enough here for everyone else as well._' Tann thought excitedly, unaware of the pair of eyes following her every move...

* * *

Bali bolts upright in her sleeping bag. She frantically looks around until her eyes lock on to Tann's empty sleeping bag. 

"What does that sister of mine think she's doing?" She yelled loud enough to rouse the boys from their slumber.

"What is it this time?" Napu asked as he stuck his fingers in his ears to get rid of the ringing.

"Are we under attack?" Lukat yawned.

"Worse. Tann went out for an early morning walk." Bali explained.

"Not again." Lukat groaned as he and Bali climbed out of their sleeping bags.

"Do you remember what happened the last time she decided to go out exploring by herself?" Napu asked.

"How could I forget? After searching for an hour, we finally found her at the bottom of a ditch with a broken arm. She was whining for weeks." Bali shuddered at the thought. "C'mon, we'd better find her before she gets herself killed this time." Bali ran out the door Lukat quickly slipped his shoes on before following.

"Dang it. I finally got past the part in my dream where that flaming old guy was giving me a planet-sized showing of the four nations." Napu grumbled as he put on his shoes and followed them out the door...

* * *

Rustle Rustle 

Tann turns her head at the sound of something moving within the bushes behind her. She drops the carrots in her hands and slowly backs away from the wild hog-monkey facing her.

'_Uh-oh_' She thinks worriedly as she reaches for her Bow-Dao, but the hog-monkey charges forward before she can pull her weapon from its holster. Tann jumps to the side to avoid its tusks and runs deeper into the forest with it trailing close behind. Tann keeps running until she finds a cliff to steep to climb. She tries reaching for her weapon again, but the hog-monkey charges again before she can move her hand close enough. Tann jumps to the side as it rushes past, but this time she fails to avoid its razor sharp tusks as one leaves a large gash on her shin. Tann grits her teeth in pain as she gets to her feet, but stumbles when she puts weight on her injured leg and falls face first into the dirt. The hog-monkey bares it fangs and slowly approaches its helpless prey. It opens its mouth and prepares to clamp its powerful jaws around Tann's exposed neck, but stops short when it catches a foreign scent in its nostrils, followed by the feeling of cold metal against its throat.

"As one meat-lover to another, I can understand your overwhelming desire for that satisfactory feeling of fulfillment you get when you find a prime source. So if I can let go of a tasty snack right in front of me, so can you." A voice declared. Tann opens her eyes to see a blue-eyed boy, not much older than her, holding a machete to the beast's throat.

"If you can move, I suggest you do so now." The boy advised. Tann snapped to attention at the sound of his voice and quickly crawled back on her hands while dragging her butt along the ground. The boy gives the hog-monkey a good kick to send it running off into the bushes. Tann gives this mysterious hero a once over and immediately knows that he's not from around here. The boy's skin tone was darker than the average earth kingdom inhabitant, and judging by his sleeveless ocean blue tunic and dark blue trousers, she could guess that he might be from the northern water tribe. The mysterious boy walks over to her and extends his hand to help her up.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Tann slowly nods and puts her hand in his.

'_He has really nice eyes._' She observes wistfully as he tries to help her up, her brown eyes meeting his blue, but the pain in her leg forces her to sit back down.

"Hey, you're hurt." He realized. He uses his machete to cut off a piece of his tunic before kneeling down and tightly securing it around her wound.

"Thank you." Tann quietly whispered, feeling a light blush creeping onto her face. The boy extends his hand again.

"C'mon. I'll take you to my sister so she can patch you up...um, what's your name?" He sheepishly asked while rummaging the fingers of his other hand through his ponytail.

"My name's Tann." She shyly replied.

"It's nice to meet you, Tann. My name's Sokka." He returned with a smile...

* * *

"TANN!" 

Napu, Bali and Lukat run through the forest calling her name. The ground begins to shake violently beneath their feet until Lukat can no longer keep his balance and face plants.

"I know you guys are worried," He begins, spitting out dirt, "but you're going to cause rockslides by doing all this shaking." he pointed out.

"Wasn't me." Napu stated.

"Well it wasn't me either." Bali quickly defends before her friends can accuse her. The tremors begin again, growing more violent with each pulse.

"Well **someone's** shaking up the place." Lukat observed. Napu puts his finger to his lip.

"Quiet. I think I hear somebody." All three fall silent, straining their ears to pick up the sounds of voices in the distance.

"I don't see what the problem is Sugar Queen! The more tremors I make, the more likely meathead is going to find our location!" a little girl shouted.

"I think its coming from this way." Napu pointed to the left and they wandered in that direction. They quietly crawled through the bushes and found two girls standing arms length apart in front of a giant furry buffalo-thing. On top of the buffalo-thing's head rested a young boy wearing yellow trousers held up by an orange sash, and a yellow long-sleeved shirt with a small orange coat. The boy was playing with a monkey animal perched on his bald head.

"Relax, Katara. It's not like Sokka hasn't been lost before. Toph actually came up with an easier approach to looking for him; stay right here and have him come find us." The boy laughed at the funny thought and turned his attention back to playing with the monkey on his head.

"But we don't know how long he's been gone, Aang." The girl, Katara, responded. The girl's dark skin tone, coupled with her blue dress tied at the middle with a white sash and dark blue pants hinted that she wasn't from the earth kingdom. A closer inspection revealed that she was carrying a custom water-skin satchel from the water tribe. Her long hair was braided with two thin whiskers dangling from her forehead and pinned to the back of her head.

"Besides, with all the shaking Toph is doing, Sokka might already be buried underneath a mountain of rubble." Katara accused. The other girl, Toph, put her hands on her hips and didn't seem to appreciate the accusations. She was barefoot, wearing baggy, green ankle and wrist cuffs. She was dressed in a green two-piece short-sleeved dress. She wore a beige, sleeveless top secured with a sturdy leather belt. Her long hair was fashioned in a bun that rested on top of her head with her bangs hanging in front of her eyes. Her skin was very pale, as if she spent the majority of her life indoors.

"First of all Sugar Queen, I felt Meathead's heavy footsteps leaving the campgrounds nearly three hours ago." Toph pointed her finger at Katara. "And second, you don't have to worry about me accidentally crushing meathead." She declared while pointing her thumb at herself. "I'm-"

"-the greatest earthbender ever. I know Toph, you've only been too eager to tell us since we met. But even you can't control everything that happens to the earth, Toph." Katara reasoned.

"What are you talking about? The very earth trembles beneath my subtle steps." Toph raised her foot and brought it down hard, breaking through the earth's crust. A seismic shockwave larger than all the previous tremors shook the ground beneath everyone's feet as it raised blunt stalagmites all around.

"This girl's crazier than Bali." Lukat remarked. Napu put his hand to Lukat's mouth, but he was too late. He turned to try and calm down Bali, but she was nowhere in sight. He looked around frantically, but didn't find her until Lukat grasped his head and turned him in the direction of the arguing girls.

"Hey, rocks for brains!" Bali called out. "Maybe you don't care about your friend, but my sister is somewhere in this forest and I don't want you crushing her."

"Who are you?" Katara asked. '_She looks like she's from the earth nation, but I can't be sure._' Katara's ocean blue eyes studied the girls clothing. She was wearing a light blue long-baggy-sleeved shirt with loose cuffs, a brown short-sleeved vest, and loose light brown pants held up by a lavender sash. On each hand was a lavender glove with the fingers stopping at the knuckles. Her short, black hair stopped just above her shoulders with a few strands of hair hanging in front of her brown eyes.

"Just some girl." Toph supplied. "She and her two friends behind her have been here for a while now." Toph explained while pointing to the bushes.

"I have a name and its Bali" she replied indignantly. "How'd you know about my friends?" she asked as two boys came out from their hiding place and walked over to Bali and stood on either side. The boy on the girl's left with the hazel eyes was almost a head taller than her, even without his black, spiky hair. He was wearing a dark-brown, sleeve-less shirt and a bright red-orange, short-sleeved coat. His red-orange pants were secured at the waist by a dark-brown sash. The other boy was at least a head taller than the first boy, his hair having more curl to it, not quite long enough to reach his brown eyes. He was wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt underneath an icy blue long-sleeved jacket. His light brown pants were secured with a dark-blue sash.

"Who are all of you? You don't look like you're from the fire-nation." Aang observed as he jumped off of Appa's head.

"I already told you that they were nobodies." Toph stomped her foot on the ground and raised a medium sized boulder into the air. "I'll teach them that it's not nice to eavesdrop."

"Hey, Napu?" the boy with the red jacket asked the other boy, "Is it eavesdropping when someone yells out their business?"

"I don't think so Lukat. It seems like we really didn't have a choice **but **to listen." Napu replied.

"Whatever." Toph shrugged, but before she could push the boulder in their direction, Bali was already charging forward.

"You're brave, kid" Toph complimented "but you're not very smart, are you?" she asked as she sent the boulder straight at Bali. Bali continued running straight, eyes locked on the foggy green eyes behind the incoming projectile and just before it struck, plowed her fist right into it, smashing it into pieces. Katara and Aang's mouths opened in shock, but Toph simply shifted her stance and shot out two smaller rocks. Bali stopped running and raised her arms to the sky to lift herself on a pillar of earth. Toph chopped the air to send out her own pillar to destroy Bali's, but Bali had already jumped off of hers. Toph turned around 180 degrees to where she thought Bali would land, but Bali landed on all fours right beside Toph, pushing up a column of earth and sending her catapulting head over heels into the air until her head came down on a rock and she blacked out with a grunt.

"Toph!" Katara cried out in alarm as she rushed over to Toph's unconscious body.

'_Wow. Her stance was kind of weird, but I thought she's be a lot tougher with all that stomping around she was doing. I didn't mean to hurt her._' Bali thought guiltily. Bali started to walk in Toph's direction to see if she was okay, but Aang stood in her way and pointed his staff to her face.

"What'd you do that for?" He demanded.

"I didn't mean for her to get hurt, but I didn't want her to crush my sister either." Bali spoke with a gentle but determined voice. Aang said nothing in response as he swung his staff. An invisible force knocked Bali on her butt and sent her skidding back to her friends.

"But you didn't have to take things that far." Aang scowled at her with his piercing gray eyes for a moment before turning to walk back to check on his friend.

"Are you okay?" Napu asked as he knelt down beside Bali. Bali nodded, trying to hold back tears that were threatening to form in the corners of her eyes. Lukat took a step forward, about to attack the retreating form of Aang, but Napu grabbed onto his arm and held him back.

"Sorry Lukat," Napu apologized. "but I think that I'd better take this fight."

"How come? I'm just as mad, if not more, than you are." Lukat argued. Napu shook his head.

"He can airbend. And the only other airbender I know of besides you is the Avatar." Napu explained as he took a step forward...

* * *

A/N: And here's chapter 2 at last. Still have to finish writing chapter 3 before I can type it up, but I have to finish typing the next chapter of my Pokémon fanfiction first. And to anybody wondering about a possible relationship between Tann and Sokka, let me say now that it's not going to happen. I don't intend to have any OC x MC relationships in my story. 


	4. Ch 3: Clearing the Airbender

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. However, the characters I introduce are mine.

A/N: "Means character speech"

'_Means character thoughts_'

- POV change

**Ch 3: Clearing the Air(bender)**

Sokka pushed through the bushes with his free hand, while his other hand secured Tann's arms around his shoulders.

"Are you sure that we're heading in the right direction to meet your friends?" Tann asked doubtfully as Sokka helped her limp through the thick underbrush.

"Positive. I definitely felt the tremors coming from this direction." Sokka assured.

"What do tremors have to do with anything?" Tann wondered. Sokka laughed.

"My friend Toph always makes tremors when it's time for me to come back to camp. She gives me twice the amount of time I say I'll be gone for before she comes looking for me." He explained. Tann giggled.

"It sounds like your girlfriend is very protective of you."

"Huh? N-no you've got it all wrong. Toph and I aren't like that at all. She just insists on fetching me because once, when I went off alone, I kinda got stuck in a hole." Sokka explained, causing Tann to laugh so hard, that Sokka almost lost his grip on her hand.

"Sorry about that." She apologized. "Why don't you tell me about your friends. That way, I won't embarrass you."

"Um..." Sokka hesitated. "Well, okay. Where should I begin?"

"How about... Toph?" Tann innocently suggested.

"Oookay. Toph is three years younger than I am."

"How old are you?" Tann inquired.

"Almost sixteen. How about you?"

"I just turned thirteen. Now back to Toph."

"Oh, right. Toph is a talented earthbender. She's the best I've ever seen actually, but don't tell her I said that."

"What does she look like?"

"She keeps her hair long hair in a bun that rests on top of her head. She lets her bangs hang in front of her eyes though."

"I don't get how people can see like that."

"Well, she's blind, so that's never been an issue with her." Sokka clarified.

"Sorry."

"That's okay. She doesn't really take offense by it." Sokka assured. "If she did, I'd be dead the day she first joined our little group. I tend to forget that she's blind when I talk to her." Sokka admitted with an embarrassed grin.

'_Unless you're just the exception._' Tann thought silently. '_It sounds like the relationship my sister and Lukat have._'

"Isn't it kind of dangerous for her to be traveling with you?" Tann wondered.

"Not really. She can't use her eyes, but she uses earthbending to feel the vibrations; sort of like a bat-wolf uses echolocation."

'_Wow,_' Tann thought. '_I didn't know earthbending could be used that way._'

"So, what about your friends?"

"Huh?"

"You haven't told me anything about your friends."

"Um, how about you tell me about your friends first, and then I'll tell you about my friends." Tann offered.

"Fair enough." Sokka agreed. "Next is my sister Katara. She's a waterbender and..." Sokka prattled on with Tann listening intently as they continued on...

* * *

"Hey, you! Baldy!" Napu called out. Aang stopped walking and turned around.

"What do you want?" he demanded. "Haven't you guys caused enough trouble?" He pointed behind him, where Katara was helping a still dazed Toph sit up.

'_What's_ _she doing?_' Napu wondered. He watched as she bended water out of her water-skin and coated her hands with it. Katara proceeded to firmly press the flats of her palms to Toph's head before her hands emitted a bright glow. She continued to apply pressure for a minute or so before the glowing stopped, and she bended the water back into her water-skin.

"Are you okay, Toph?" Katara asked concernedly.

"Much better now." Toph assured while rubbing her head. "Thanks, Katara."

'_Wow. I wonder if that's something that all waterbenders can do. If so, maybe I can learn how to do that.'_ Napu thought hopefully.

"Alright, where's the girl that sent me flying?" Toph demanded.

"She's sorry that she hurt you, but I still think you deserved it for being a brat." Napu responded. Toph wobbled a bit as she stood up, but put on a determined expression nonetheless.

"Brat, huh? I really don't care who it is so long as I bury somebody." Toph took a shaky step forward, but Katara pulled her back down.

"If you think that Toph got what she deserved, then why are you still here?" Katara asked.

"I'm not going anywhere until arrowhead apologizes for pushing my sister down." Napu responded.

"Let's go Napu. That girl has stopped with the quakes. Let's go find Tann now." Bali pleaded as Lukat helped her to her feet.

"You should listen to your sister. My friends and I are dealing with something important right now, and you're not helping." Aang stated.

"I really don't care if you are the Avatar. You should still apologize when you knock someone down." Napu declared, much to the surprise of Aang, Katara, and Toph. "And if this 'important thing' involves bringing balance to the world, it seems as though you've been having trouble way before you met us."

"You jerk!" Katara shouted. "Do you have any idea what we've been through? It's only been a week since we dropped off the Earth King and his pet bear, because Ba-Sing-Se has been seized!"

"That kinda proves my point. Maybe if your friend had stayed gone, the next Avatar could have done a better job." Napu remarked. Katara's brow furrowed as she gritted her teeth. She got to the count of four before she bended the water out of her water-skin and lashed out at Napu. Napu jumped back as far as he could, narrowly dodging the strike, but feeling the breeze as the whip just missed his face.

'_Whoa. Not even a drop of water was out of her control.'_ Napu observed. '_If I don't finish this fast, I won't last another two minutes._' Katara struck with her waterwhip again, but Napu stomped his foot on the ground and used his arms to pull up a wall of earth to shield himself from the attack. He thrust his arms forward and pushed the wall in Katara's direction.

"Watch out, Katara!" Toph called out. Katara jumped to the side to avoid the approaching attack. She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that she had escaped danger, but neglected the true meaning of Toph's outburst. Without warning, Napu emerged from behind the wall as it passed Katara, and snatched her water-skin off of her.

"Give that back!" Katara demanded. Napu shook his head.

"Not until your friend apologizes." He replied while dangling her water-skin tauntingly.

"That belongs to my friend! Give it back to her right now!" Aang demanded. Napu shook his head again.

"I'll make you a deal. Fight me one on one. If you win, I'll give your friend her water-skin back and we'll leave. But if I win, you have to apologize to my sister for knocking her down."

"Fine!" Aang agreed.

"One more thing. Your staff is the only weapon you can use. No bending of any kind from you."

"That means no earthbending from you, either."

"Fair enough." Napu agreed as he placed Katara's water-skin on the ground. He wasted no time in closing the gap between Aang and himself. Napu threw a punch straight to Aang's jaw, intending to finish the fight with his first strike, but Aang easily dodged and caught Napu in the ribs with his staff.

"Pretty direct approach for an airbender." Napu remarked as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Poor footwork for an earthbender." Aang returned.

"Way to go, Aang!" Katara cheered.

"Knock him flat, Twinkle-toes!" Toph chipped in.

Napu gritted his teeth and charged again, only to jump backwards to avoid another strike, nearly tripping over Katara's water-skin in the process. He stooped down to pick it up before securing it on his back bandolier style.

"What are you doing with that?" Aang inquired. "Hoping to use it to stop me from attacking you?"

"No. I just figured that if you can use your staff, you wouldn't object to me having something to defend myself with." Napu explained. Aang looked over to Katara, who shrugged her shoulders. Seeing that she wasn't objecting, Aang got into a ready position, awaiting Napu's next move. Not another second passed before Napu charged again. He pushed off of the ground heading straight for Aang, who brought his staff up to block Napu's next strike. Napu reached his right arm behind his back, preparing for an overhead swing. Aang braced himself for the strike with a look of contempt on his face, but his eyes widened in shock when Napu bended the water from Katara's water skin into an ice blade, and sliced downward, cutting Aang's staff right down the middle...

* * *

"You guys really fly around on a ten-ton flying bison?" Asked Tann incredulously.

"He goes by Appa, but yeah, we do. He's really gentle once you get to know him." Sokka assured after noticing the worried look on her face.

"Does your friend have any other exotic pets besides Appa and the flying Lemur?" Tann wondered. Sokka shook his head.

"No, Appa and Momo are the only ones he found. He's still not sure how they found their way to his home on Kangaroo Island, but he loves them like family." Said Sokka, with his normal -gotta impress the girls- masculine voice. "Now it's your turn to tell me about your friends." He reminded.

"A deal's a deal. But truth be told, there's nothing really interesting about me or my friends." Tann informed.

"Neither were my friends." Sokka protested.

"You're friends with a ten-ton flying bison. How is that boring?" Tann asked. Sokka laughed weakly.

"Okay, okay. So maybe my group is a bit uncommon. You still have to tell me about yours." Tann nodded.

"Just remember that I warned you. My sister, Bali is an earthbender. She's only 15, but she's almost mastered it. She was the one who taught it to my big brother. He's 14 by the way. They're pretty good, but they won't be winning the next Earth Rumble, though." Tann started.

"That's what I forgot to tell you. Toph won the Earth Rumble Tournament 4 years in a row." Sokka interrupted. Tann stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

"How can you just **forget** about something like that?" She wondered. Sokka shrugged.

"It happens, okay? And you left off at your brother and sister." He replied helpfully. Tann looked at him disdainfully.

"Thanks. The last person traveling with me is my sister's unofficial boyfriend. He's only a few months younger than she is. The problem is that she won't admit that she likes him, and he's too dense to figure it out for himself."

"What kind of moron isn't aware when somebody he's traveling with has feelings for him?" Sokka wondered.

"I'm walking with a prime example, and I still can't find an answer." Tann muttered.

"What was that?"

"I was just saying that my sister's boyfriend, Lukat, can airbend." Tann quickly spat out. This got Sokka's attention; even more so than the fact that a girl was within five feet of him.

"Your friend can what!" He asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I'll leave it up to him to tell you about it, because he's sensitive about how he found out, but I will tell you to watch out when he's got gas." Tann warned with a mischievous smile.

"Why?"

"Let's just say that we all monitor what he eats from now on." Tann giggled. Sokka just stared at her with a mix of confusion and more confusion as they pressed on...

* * *

Aang stood there, not even registering Napu calmly bending the water back into Katara's water skin. Katara gasped at the sight of Aang's destroyed heirloom. Toph closed her useless eyes and shook her head, a grim expression forming on her face. Aang fell to his knees with a sorrowful expression, holding the halves of his precious staff in each hand.

"You little cheat!" Katara accused. "This whole time you've been a waterbender. What'd you do, get your sister or your friend to earthbend for you?"

"No." He casually responded as he threw Katara her pouch. Katara angrily snatched it out of the air.

""Is there somebody else hiding over there then?" Toph shook her head.

"I already told you, Katara. These three are the only ones here besides us. He isn't lying either. I'm not sure how, but it looks like we've run into the first non-Avatar capable of using more than one element." Katara walked over to Aang and put her hands on his shoulders.

"I don't care what he can do. He still fought under false pretenses, and to top it off, he broke Aang's staff."

"A broken staff can be replaced. If you've really been through all that you say you have been, you should already know what it feels like to have someone close to you put in harms way." Napu stated, with no remorse detectable in his voice. He walked past where Aang and Katara were sitting. "You still owe my sister an apology." He reminded before disappearing into the woods.

"Aren't you going after him?" Toph asked. Lukat shook his head.

"It's best to leave him with his thoughts right now. He won't admit it, but I'm sure that he's sorry about what he did to your friend's staff." He replied. Toph faced him for a few moments before sauntering off in the direction that Napu vanished to.

"I guess that just adds another question to the list I already wanted to ask him." She called back before she too, wandered out of sight. Bali calmly walked over to where Katara was pulling a somber Aang to his feet.

"You don't have to apologize." She assured. "I didn't mean to hurt your friend, but I was worried that she'd hurt my sister. My brother shouldn't have done what he did."

Aang shook his head. "He was right, though. Even if I had won, I'd still owe you an apology. I'm sorry." Bali smiled.

"If you want, I can have my sister look at your staff for you. Our father is a skilled blacksmith and taught her everything he knows. She might be able to fix it for you." She offered. Aang smiled and bowed.

"Thank you."

"How long did it take you to master airbending?" Lukat asked as he walked over to them.

"A few years, why?" Aang asked curiously.

"I was kinda hoping that you could teach me a few tricks." Lukat explained. Katara and Aang's eyes widened as it fully registered what Lukat was saying.

"You can airbend?" Katara asked doubtfully. "That's impossible."

"It's true. Lukat here has a great-grandfather on his mother's side who was an airbender." Bali explained. "It was kind of funny how we found out that he can airbend. A few months ago..."

"They don't need to know about that part!" Lukat interrupted. Aang looked far from convinced, but witnessing the final resting place of all that you held dear tended to make one skeptical. Seeing that no one else believed him, Lukat moved over to the tall grass. He crossed both arms in front of his chest and stood in a horse-stance. Aang looked on with mixed emotions. Sure, he wanted to believe that this new kid was telling the truth, but it would be unwise to let himself get his hopes up. Waiting until the current breeze died down, Lukat whipped both arms across till they were spread out completely. A gust of wind blew across the tall grass, bending it in a direction completely different from the earlier breeze.

Both Aang's and Katara's mouths flew open, their brains not completely registering what they had just seen. Katara looked earnestly at Aang to see his reaction -anything to indicate whether they were being fooled or not. At last tears began to well up in his eyes before falling freely down his face.

"Aang..." Katara's hand rose to her mouth and she could feel tears falling from her eyes as well. She knew first-hand the despair that had plagued Aang when he had discovered the remains of his people.

"You're an airbender!" Aang exclaimed happily. He threw his arms around Lukat who looked a bit surprised, but still returned the gesture. As if the sadness had just disappeared, Aang gave Lukat a broad smile. "What tricks can you do? Can you do the air-scooter?" Aang asked hopefully. Lukat shook his head.

"Actually, the only thing I can actually do is a small gust of air. Not really all that useful outside of washing dishes." He admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"That's okay. I can teach you all kinds of tricks. C'mon!" Aang instructed as he grabbed hold of Lukat's arm and pulled him along. Katara and Bali couldn't help but laugh at Aang's enthusiasm.

"For the longest time, Aang's carried a bit of grief from being the last airbender." Katara explained with a sad smile. Her smile slowly became a more peaceful one. "But now he's happier than I've seen him in a long time." Bali smiled in understanding.

"Lukat's been feeling a little bit left out too. Every time we would run into trouble, he'd usually have to take the rear because he can't use airbending to fight."

"Can your sister earthbend as well? Or is she a waterbender?" Katara asked.

"Neither, but I can hold my own with my Bow-Dao." Bali and Katara turned to see a smiling Sokka help Tann limp to their location. Bali and Katara each ran to embrace their respective sibling before delivering a hard smack to their heads.

"Who said that you could go off by yourself?" Bali demanded. "Just look at you. You're a filthy mess and you've hurt yourself. Again."

"Aww, don't be mad. I found a bunch of carrots, and I'd still have them if it weren't for that stupid hog-monkey." Tann reasoned.

"What have you got to say for yourself, eh, Sokka?" Katara inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Do you have any reason for wandering away from camp without telling anyone?"

"I walked right past Toph's tent, so she could feel me leaving. Doesn't that count?" Sokka offered in his defense.

"What do you mean 'feel' you leaving?" Bali wondered.

"Toph uses her earthbending to sense where everything is with vibrations running through the earth." Tann explained.

"How come I can't do that?" Bali wondered.

"It's something Toph learned to compensate for her blindness. I don't know of any other earthbender that can, so don't feel bad." Katara reasoned.

"What?" Bali blurted.

"Don't worry, sister. You're still a strong earthbender." Tann assured.

"No, it's not that. Toph is blind?"

"Didn't you know?" Tann inquired.

"No, how could I have known?" Bali fell to her knees clutching her head in her hands. "Way to go, Bali. You just beat up a blind girl."

"You beat her up?" Tann asked, bewildered.

"How?" Asked an even more surprised Sokka.

"I launched her into the air and she fell on her head." Bali explained. Sokka breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wow. I was scared for a second. The only other people to beat Toph were Ty Lee, with her pressure point attacks, and Aang, with his airbending."

"How'd he win with airbending?" Bali wondered.

"It was when they first met. Aang needed to ask Toph to become his earthbending master, and the only way for him to talk to her was to get into the ring to fight her. He knocked her off her feet with a gust of wind, and she fell out of the ring." Sokka explained.

"So when I knocked her into the air..."

"She couldn't see anything because she couldn't feel vibrations while airborne. She can't see when she's on Appa, either." Sokka finished. "Now give me the play-by-play. I want to know exactly how Toph lost this time."

"No thanks. I feel bad enough as it is. I don't want to re-live it." Bali sat down and cupped her chin in her hands.

"C'moooon." Pleaded Sokka. "The only thing you really damaged was Toph's pride."

"Come over here, Tann." Katara motioned to a different area. "I'll patch you up while my brother begs your sister for a replay." Katara helped Tann limp over to a rock and began healing her wound. The sound of earth moving and a boy's screams echoed in the backround...

* * *

A/N: Wow, nearly a month since I last updated. Sorry it took so long. Course, I'm not really sure who it is that I'm apologizing too. This story has the fewest reviews of the three I have posted. And for anyone curious as to why Toph's Pride was underlined... It's the title of the first fanfiction I've ever posted. The reviews have been good so far, so I'm guessing that everyone who reads it has enjoyed it to at least some extent.


	5. Ch 4: Waterbender under the bridge

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters that appear in the show.

**A/N: "Means character speech."**

'**_Means character thoughts._'**

**- Means POV change.**

**Ch 4: Water(bender) under the bridge**

Napu stood in the middle of a fast running stream; his legs and the circumference around them encased in ice to keep him from being swept away. He closes his eyes tightly to enhance his concentration while he holds his arms out in front of him. He hears the sound of approaching footsteps and turns around to see Toph walking towards him.

"You okay?" Toph noded. She shivered at the sudden drop in temperature.

"I'm fine." She assured. Napu turns back around and picks up where he left off. He opens his eyes and thrust his arms into the air, forcing a small swell of water to rise into the air as he freezes it. He keeps the frozen water in place for several minutes before throwing his arms down; the ice melts and flows back into the stream.

"What is it?" Napu asks, not even bothering to turn around this time.

"I just had a few things I wanted to talk to you about." Toph replied, her breath foggy from the cold.

"And if I don't feel like talking?" Napu inquired.

"Then I'll just wait around until you do feel like talking. I'm in no hurry." Napu sighed and wiped the sweat off of his brow. He froze a larger radius of water before unfreezing his legs and sliding back to the riverbank.

'_He's pretty good_.' Toph thought silently, noticing the cold dissapating as Napu approached her.

"What could possibly be important enough for you to wait until I feel like talking?" He inquired.

"It's about Aang." She said simply. Napu sighed again.

"Look, I'm sorry that I broke his staff, okay? I'll just pick him up a new one when I get to the next town." Toph shook her head.

"The staff isn't a regular model that you can just buy at the store. I overheard your sister saying that your other sister might be able to fix it." Napu stood there, waiting for her to leave before it dawned on him.

"There's something else you wanted to ask me about isn't there?"

"It should have been pretty obvious." Toph retorted.

"Well, go ahead and ask, even though I'm pretty sure I know what the question will be."

"Okay, then. I wanted to know how you're able to bend both earth and water." Napu shook his head and chuckled.

"And here I thought you were going to ask for a few earthbending lessons. That way, I could've just pointed you to Bali because she was the one who trained me. Although, 'tried to kill me on a regular basis' would probably be more accurate." Toph stood there in silence, waiting for him to divulge the information she requested.

"As for how I can bend two elements… well, you're friend kind of took my only explanation, thank you very much." Toph smirked.

"Now I understand. You thought you were the next Avatar. Now that Aang has returned to the world, you don't have a clear future anymore. No wonder you feel you have the right to criticize Aang. You're just bitter because he took away a destiny that wasn't yours to begin with." Toph deduced, "And don't bother telling me that I'm wrong. I can tell when people are lying."

"Fine. I won't tell you that you're wrong. In fact, I think you've come to a natural conclusion based on what you know about me." Napu replied before turning around and walking away. Toph said nothing as she followed after him. They walked a few paces before Napu finally stopped and turned to face her.

"Why are you still following me?" He inquired.

"I'm waiting for you to tell me what it is that I don't know about you." She explained. Napu sighed and continued walking with Toph close behind…

* * *

Katara had already finished healing Tann's wound and was now engaged in the difficult task of fixing her brother's shirt.

"Hey, Tann?" Tann looked up from her own sewing.

"What is it Katara?"

"Well, I don't mean to be rude, but there's something I've been wondering."

"About?"

"Well, it's obvious that Lukat isn't related to you, and that Bali is your sister, but I was wondering about Napu." Tann stared at Katara, clearly confused.

"I thought that somebody already mentioned that he's mine and Bali's brother." Katara nodded.

"You did." She assured. "It's just that he doesn't look like you, or your sister; and the fact that he can waterbend." Tann stared blankly at Katara.

'_Way to go Katara. You just offended both a potential friend, and possibly the only blacksmith around who's able to repair Aang's staff._' Katara thought guiltily. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I had no right to pry like that." Tann shook her head.

"No, it's okay. You're right. Napu isn't related to me, Bali, or Lukat." She looks up and smiles. "But he's always been there for us when we need him, just like a big brother would be. We may not share the same blood, but he's family all the same." Katara smiled.

"I know what you mean. Of course Sokka is my brother, but Aang, Toph, Appa and Momo are family too."

"Speaking of Aang, how do you feel about him Katara?" Tann inquired with a sly smile.

"He's like a little brother to me." Katara replied.

"Is that all he is to you?"

"Well, sure. What would make you think otherwise?" Katara averted Tann's gaze as a light blush highlighted her cheeks.

"Nothing really. Just curious is all." Tann assured, but she couldn't help giggling…

* * *

"And once you form the ball of air, you jump on top and ride." Aang instructed. He circled around Lukat until his air scooter dissipated. "Just make sure that you balance like you're on a top." Lukat gulped. He mimicked Aang's hand movements until he had a ball of air much like Aang had shown him, but he couldn't maintain it.

"Nice job!" Aang congratulated. "With a bit more practice, you'll be riding in no time. Here, try it out." Aang spun his hands and another sphere of wind formed. He carefully handed it to Lukat who cautiously mounted it like Aang had shown him.

"Hey! I did it!" Lukat happily exclaimed. Unfortunately he lost his focus and the sphere of air took control.. "AAAAHHHHHH!" He screamed as he spun faster and faster until he flew off and landed on his butt.

"Lukat!" Bali cried out as she rushed over. Lukat got to his feet with no problem and dusted himself off, but the nausea caught up with him and he was forced to shake off Bali's embrace so he could vomit in a nearby bush. Aang scratched his chin sheepishly.

"That was a good first try. Now you just have to work on balance and control." He assured. Lukat groaned.

"Maybe in a few minutes."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bali asked concernedly. Lukat nodded.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy."

"Where are you guys headed to?" Sokka inquired.

"We're actually on our way to Qui-Sho. We just left Pai-Gon yesterday." Bali replied.

"Really? We're headed there too!" Aang said excitedly. "You can come with us!" Sokka nodded.

"That's probably a good idea anyway. We heard that there have been a lot of thefts happening in Pai-Gon, but when we arrived, they had already cleared out. There's no telling where they are now." Bali looked down nervously.

'_I hope they're not suspicious_.' She thought desperately.

"Hey, Sokka? What did you and Tann talk about while you were alone?" Lukat asked in an effort to change the subject.

"Nothing much. She just asked a few questions about us. She did tell me a few things about you guys though." Sokka replied.

"Like what?" Lukat cautiously asked.

"Well, she said that she was traveling with her siblings and a friend. Also, she said to watch out when you have gas; something about how you discovered you were an airbender."

"How did you discover that you were an airbender?" Aang wondered. Lukat sighed.

"I discovered it in a town in between Gao-ling and Ba Sing Se. It's probably deserted now, but Jung-Se was famous for its beans."

"I heard about that place. We were on route to it when these three Fire Nation girls were pursuing us. The strange thing is, we couldn't find any sign of it. We looked at the map and it indicated that we passed through it, but the closest place that we found had been a ghost town." Sokka explained. Lukat sighed.

"My bad."

"Huh?" Sokka looked at him bewildered.

"The beans over there made me kind of gas-y, and…well…boom!"

"Boom?"

"I held it in as long as I could." Lukat defended. I even went to a secluded spot to let it out." Aang and Sokka stared at Lukat blankly. "It didn't take a genius to figure out that I was an airbender after I sent buildings flying into the horizon. That smell carried out pretty far; along with my pants." Lukat finished lamely. He put his hand behind his head and sighed, awaiting the bouts of laughter. Sokka and Aang glanced at each other momentarily, before erupting into a fit of laughter. Aang rolled onto his back, feet flailing in the air, while Sokka lay on his stomach, holding his side and pounding the ground with his fist. The laughter continued until Bali sent them flying in the direction of Katara and Tann…

* * *

"How long are you going to follow me?" Napu called back.

"Until you tell me what I want to know of course." Toph responded, her footsteps echoing his. Napu continued walking until he came across an old rope bridge spanning across a steep cliff with rapids below.

'_Maybe if I cut the ropes while she's crossing, I can finally lose her._' Tempting as the thought was, Napu shook his head and proceeded to cross the bridge. He got about a third of the way across before he noticed that something was missing. He turned around and saw that Toph was standing with the bridge in front of her, making no move to start crossing.

"Hey! What's the matter? I thought you were going to keep following me!" Napu called back. Toph hesitated before taking an uncertain step onto the first plank. She immediately gripped the rope tightly with both hands before taking a few more steps.

"That's it. Just a little further." Napu mocked. Toph ignored him, focusing only on keeping her balance. Napu shook the bridge with each forceful step as he finished crossing the bridge.

"Want some advice, Toph?"

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

"Don't look down."

"Gee, thanks. I'll try to keep that in mind." She replied gruffly. Napu shrugged.

"Geez. Try to offer some helpful advice, and this is the thanks I get." Napu stopped whining when he felt a ball of heat fly past his ear before it grazed one of the rope supports by Toph's hands.

"Hey!" She objected. "What's you problem?" She demanded as she struggled to maintain her grip.

"Don't blame me! I can't firebend, remember?"

"Well of course you can't firebend. Even a freak has its limits." A voice mocked. Napu hesitated before turning around, only to have his gaze returned by no less than five firebenders.

"So, Captain Yabut." Napu greeted. "I see you haven't taken my advice about finding a new hobby." He glanced at the additional troops. "Looks like you've found some new friends though."

"That's Brigadier General now, Freak."

'_Wow. And I thought some of my nicknames were mean._' Toph thought silently as she listened intently.

"Um… congratulations?" Napu responded before shooting out a rock and knocking a soldier down. He immediately brought up an earthen wall to shield himself from the incoming fireballs.

"I could use some help, if you're not too busy, Toph!" Napu called out.

"What do you expect me to do?" She inquired. "I can't see from over here!" She yelled back.

"Why not?" Napu demanded.

"I'm blind, mud for brains!" She retorted. The firebenders stopped attacking long enough to coordinate a combined assault.

"You're what?" Napu exclaimed before a massive blue fireball broke the shield and sent him rolling back onto the bridge. "If you're blind, then how'd you know that Lukat and I were hiding in the bushes?"

"I see with earthbending!" Toph explained. "Do you see any earth beneath my feet?" Napu looked down at the planks of wood suspended over the water.

"Oh, crud." The fire benders continued their fierce assault, trying to tear through the ropes supporting the bridge. "Okay, here's the plan. When the bridge goes, I'll turn down the rapids enough for us to swim for it."

"One, **tiny**, problem with that plan. I can't swim." She informed him. The ropes finally snapped on the side closest to the firebenders.

"I hope you're a fast learner." Napu replied as the bridge came out from under them. They hit the freezing water with a loud splash.

'_Too bad._' Thought Toph '_No meathead here to announce his plans to rescue me while his girlfriend jumps in to save me._' She could feel her body numbing from the cold. Even with the hypothermia making her drowsy, Toph could vaguely feel someone's hand grab her collar and pull her along…

* * *

A/N: Wow. Just four days since my last update.(A record that can't defeat the one day posting of all the pre-typed chapters of Toph's Pride.) And a cliffhanger. I just defined bitter-sweet. Gotta finish writing out the next chapter before I can post it. Hope you like my revelation about how Lukat discovered his "talents". .


	6. Ch 5: Secrets Unraveling

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters that appear on the show. I do own the OC's that appear in my story.**

**A/N: "**This means Character speech"

'_This means Character thoughts_'

--------- Means POV Change

**Ch 5: Secrets Unraveling**

Katara was busy packing up the leftovers from lunch. She watched as Aang moved a ball of air for Momo to play with, stopping when he nearly led Momo into Sokka as he was sharpening his boomerang. She looked over at Tann, trying in vain to wake Appa from his afternoon nap. Her eyes rested upon the final two people on the campgrounds. Lukat was fast asleep, head resting on Bali's knees.

"Toph and Napu sure have been gone for a long time." Katara observed.

"Does Toph normally wander off for long periods of time?" Bali wondered. Aang shook his head.

"When she's not training me, she's usually in her tent or arguing with Sokka."

"Maybe you should go and look for her, Sokka." Tann suggested. "She's probably waiting for you to find her."

"Why me?" Sokka objected.

"Well it's only fair. You told me that she's the one who always leads you back to camp." Tann reminded.

"She is the one who always finds you." Aang agreed. Sokka put his arms up and admitted defeat.

"Do you want me to bring back Napu while I'm at it?" He inquired as he climbed to his feet. Tann shook her head.

"Brother wanders off a lot. He'll only be found when he wants to be."

"You'd better hurry up, Sokka. We don't want to be here when the Fire nation passes through." Katara pointed out. Lukat awoke with a start.

"The Fire Nation's passing through here? Why?"

"Remember the thieves we told you about earlier? Well, Katara and Sokka overheard them interrogating a merchant. It turns out they've been tracking this thief for a while now." Aang explained. Lukat jumped to his feet.

"Tann, you go back to our camp and retrieve our stuff! I'm going with Sokka to look for Napu and Toph." He turns to Bali. "Bali, you stay here in case Napu happens to wander back." Tann nodded before taking off in the opposite direction of Lukat and a surprised Sokka.

"Aang, you go with Tann. She shouldn't go off by herself." Katara pleaded. Aang nodded and took off after her. Katara turned back to Bali. "What's going on?" Bali looked down at her bare toes.

"We're the thieves that they're after." She whispered. Katara's face shifted from shocked to a betrayed look before she resumed packing up their camp as fast as she could…

* * *

"Where would Toph go if she wanted to be alone?" Lukat asked Sokka as they hurried through the underbrush. 

"How would I know? It's not like I follow her."

"So you have no idea where she could be?" Sokka put his chin to his hand in contemplation.

"Well, we passed some rapids on our way over here, so we can eliminate that as a possibility because she can't swim."

"Which way are the rapids?" Lukat stopped running, causing Sokka to nearly crash into him. Sokka thought for a moment before pointing to the right. Lukat kicked off the trunk of a nearby tree and caught a low branch. "I see it! This way!"

"Shouldn't we be headed in the opposite direction?" Sokka called up. Lukat shook his head and dropped down.

"If Toph is half as stubborn as Bali, then she'll follow him until she's found out everything that she wants to know. Napu always practices his icebending when he's sulking."

"That makes sense I guess, but don't you mean waterbending?" Sokka asked confusedly. Lukat shook his head.

"We just call it icebending. Napu has practically no skill with water unless it's already frozen." He explained. Sokka nodded, understanding the logic behind it. They took off again with their new destination in mind…

* * *

A lone soldier stumbles across what appears to be an abandoned dwelling made from a powerful display of earthbending. 

"Hey, I found something!" A firenation soldier shouted after his troop. He heard a rustle in the bushes and turned around to catch the movements of something yellow and orange before he was hit in-between the eyes of his facemask by a swift moving object. His comrades arrived at the scene shortly after his screams. Despite the fuss he was making, they observed his calm demeanor as he leaned lazily against a tree.

"What did you find?" One of them inquired.

"I saw someone head over in that direction!" He replied in a suspiciously nasal voice as he pointed deeper into the woods. They looked at him strangely before running off in the direction he pointed. The soldier waited until his teammates were no longer in sight before slumping to the ground.

"Wow," voiced Aang. "He was getting heavy." The leaves rustled as Tann jumped out of the branches.

"See? I told you that it would work, Aang." Tann boasted with a smile as she picked up her arrow. "We've used that trick a lot."

"Why? Is the Fire Nation after you guys or something?" Tann placed an arm behind her head.

"Well, since Bali has probably already spilled the beans, I guess I might as well tell you too."

"Tell me what?" Asked a puzzled Aang as he followed Tann to her campsite.

"Well, let's just say that me and my little family are infamous with the firenation soldiers around these parts."

"How come?"

"Something about wanting to capture my brother and using him to eliminate you." Tann replied with a sheepish grin. Aang gulped nervously. '_Why do we run into these kinds of people?'_ He thought morbidly…

* * *

"Hey, Lukat! Where'd you go?" Sokka shouted. He passes by a large bush nearby and yelps when an arm pulls him inside. Sokka raises his club in self-defense, but lowers it again once he sees that it is just Lukat. Lukat puts a finger to his lips, signaling for Sokka to be quiet before he reveals their location to the small cluster of firenation soldiers walking downstream. 

"Hurry up! Brigadier-General Yabut wants that freak brought back alive!" One soldier shouted to the rest. "He and that girl were washed away by the fast moving current. If we act fast we can still proceed with project C."

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" The soldiers shouted in response.

"Project C?" Sokka repeated. "What's that all about?" Lukat sighed.

"Well, by now Tann has probably already spilled to Aang, because Bali should have already blabbed to your sister, so I guess you may as well know too. The Fire Nation caught word of Napu's…'talents'. They plan on using him to defeat Aang before he masters firebending." Lukat explained.

"I'm guessing that it wasn't hard for people to notice that your friend was a bit different from the average bender, but why couldn't you guys have just moved to another town and blended in with the citizens once the Fire Nation caught wind?" Sokka wondered. Lukat laughed weakly.

"It's the same reason that the Fire Nation caught wind of us in the first place. Napu tried posing as the Avatar." Sokka stared at the amateur airbender in disbelief.

"Stupid as that was, it still doesn't explain why the Fire Nation would be told about Napu. Especially if he was convincing enough to fool people into believing that he actually was 'destined to bring balance to the four nations'".

"The people were more inclined to rat on us once they discovered that the 'Avatar' was robbing them." At this revelation, Sokka exploded.

"Are you guys nuts? Do you think that we need that kind of negative attention? We have enough problems trying to evade the firenation soldiers without someone luring them to places that we might possibly visit!" Sokka's ranting was cut short when he felt a sudden heat source quickly approaching his face. Sokka didn't even have time to yelp before Lukat deflected the ball of fire with a small gust of air.

"That boy just airbended! It must be the Avatar and one of his friends!" Yelled a firenation soldier. Lukat waved his arms in front of his body.

"I can't be the Avatar! Do you **see** any arrow's tattooed on my forehead?" He protested while pointing to his bushy head. The officer hesitated until another one pointed and shouted, "Don't be fooled! He's probably wearing a wig!" Reassured by this flash of insight, the other soldiers continued with a full assault of fireballs on the two youths, forcing them to flee.

"Quick, Lukat! Run back to camp and warn the others!" Sokka pleaded. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

"Actually, I don't think that I can run for much longer." Lukat replied.

"What? Why not? Aang said that running at fast speeds is one of the easiest tricks in airbending!"

"Well," Lukat started as he dodged another fireball, "It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I'm asthmatic."

"You're what?" Sokka demanded the open air next to him. He looked behind him to see Lukat doubled over and apparently trying to catch his breath. He looked farther back at the enemy fast approaching when he heard a sharp whistle above him. He looked up to see Appa flying towards them with Katara at the reigns. "How high can you jump, Lukat?"

"I don't know. Maybe three feet if I try really hard." Sokka groaned.

"Okay, here's the plan. Jump higher, and JUMP NOW!" Sokka screamed at Lukat, startling Lukat into jumping ten feet with barely enough warning for Sokka to grab hold. Appa shot forward like a white furry bullet and snatched them both out of the air, flying away before the firenation soldiers could shoot them down.

"Hey, thanks for the lift Katara." Lukat smiled. Katara shot back an icy glare.

"Once we get the others, we're dropping you and your friends over to the Earth Kingdom authorities." Katara declared through clenched teeth. Lukat looked over to Bali to gauge her reaction, but her face was buried in her knees. Lukat sighed.

"Fair enough." He resigned…

* * *

The sound of crashing waves running over rocks drowns out the sounds of the woodpecker-squirrels searching for bugs. 

"Uggghhh…" Napu looked over at Toph. She stirred a bit before she went back to sleep.

'_I wonder what they had for lunch'_ Napu thought hungrily. His stomach seemed to be following his mind's train of thought with a large gurgle. Napu sighed. "Stop. Making. Noises." He ordered his stomach, punching it with each word. Toph moaned again, this time her eyes fluttering open. She lifted her head off of Napu's folded jacket and tried to sit up, falling back down abruptly when she put weight on her left arm.

"Crud." She mumbled, clutching her elbow.

"I'd suggest sitting still. You banged your elbow pretty hard against a rock while we were going downstream." Toph turned her head in the direction that his voice had come from.

"You could have at least gotten rid of the rocks for me." She struggled to sit up without putting weight on her bad arm. "Unless of course you waited until after you hit a rock before you thought it was a worthwhile idea."

"Like I'd actually hit a **rock** in the middle of the **water**. That would be beyond pathetic since you're talking about both of my elements." Napu pointed out. Toph snorted. She rose to her feet and shuffled over to him, cradling her left arm.

"Didn't I tell you that it was no use lying to me? The change in your heartbeat and breathing pattern is a dead giveaway; not to mention the obvious evidence of the way you're clutching your side." Toph smirked when his heartbeat sped up from embarrassment.

"I'd like to see you concentrate on not running into things while you're trying to keep someone else's head above the water." Napu shot back.

"If you were any good, you would have just done what Katara would have done; raised the level of the water to raise us above the rocks." Toph returned coolly. Napu clenched his fists in frustration.

"What do you want from me? I haven't had any waterbending training, so how would I know how to do something like that. All I've been able to do is use my sister's earthbending lessons and try and adapt them to waterbending."

"What can you do?" Toph wondered.

"As long as it's not too much water, I can freeze it into a shape or tool that I can use. I don't really use waterbending unless I have to." Napu watched the confused look on Toph's face. He waited in silence whilst the gears in her head clicked into place.

"Hey, if you can't bend large amounts of water, then how'd you plan on lowering the rapids to a safe level?" Napu cleared his throat before answering with a clear, logical explanation.

"I lied. Duh." Toph's mouth fell open.

"YOU WHAT?" She screamed. Napu cowered a bit at the decibels of her voice.

"It was the only way that you'd trust me. Would you have been more relaxed if I had told you the truth?" He defended. '_Three…two…one…_' Napu counted off the seconds until the eminent attack came. '_Ummm…where's the raging avalanche?_' He wondered. He looked up to see a shockingly calm appearance on her face.

"With no training, I guess that means that you don't know how to use waterbending for healing, huh?" She asked disappointedly. Napu shrugged.

"Directly, no." Napu admitted. "Sorry." Toph sighed.

"Don't worry about it." She mumbled as she started walking back to where she had arisen.

"Course, if you promise not to bury me later, there is something that I can do for your elbow." He offered.

"Like what?" She asked curiously.

"If you come closer, then I can show you." He stated impatiently. The skeptical girl walked a few paces closer and gingerly held out her damaged arm. She winced when Napu carefully flexed her elbow at ninety-degrees. He proceeded to place one hand in the stream until he felt he had gathered enough water under his control. The amateurish waterbender used the water he had gathered to freeze her elbow in solid ice.

"Geez, that's cold." She yelped. "How about a little warning next time?"

"Quit whining. It'll keep the swelling down won't it? And this way you won't make it worse until your friend can take a look at it."

"How'd you think this up?"

"Live a week with my sisters and all will be clear." Napu replied. "If you're still confused, you can bring your questions to them."

"That reminds me, Mud. I believe I had a question that you were about to answer before those walking candles attacked." Toph reminded.

"Mud?" Napu asked confusedly. "Question?"

"Water and earth make mud, don't they?" Toph pointed out. "And I suppose you don't have to answer my question, even though I've had a pretty bad time since I met you."

"And pray tell, what is it that I'm responsible for?" Toph stuck an accusatory finger in his face.

"For starters, I was rudely dropped on my head, while only trying to discourage your sister from doing anything rash. To top it all off, in a matter of minutes, I was: attacked by firenation soldiers, fell off a bridge, nearly drowned, and now this." She pointed to her now frozen appendage. "I think it's only fair."

"First of all, it was Bali who sent you flying. Second of all, none of those other things would have happened to you if you hadn't followed me in the first place." Napu pointed out.

"She's your sister, so you can be held accountable. And as for following you, if you had just answered my question from the beginning, then I would have had no reason to follow you. All this leads to it being your fault."

"That doesn't make any sense at all!" He protested.

"I guess you can try to argue, but do you really think you can take me with your side banged up?"

"You're not exactly in prime condition yourself." Napu pointed out.

"Yeah, that's true I guess. But if you think about it, it's only my left arm that's impaired. I'm not Aang's earthbending master for nothing." She stomped the ground to raise a pillar in front of Napu's face.

'_Do I really want to get on the bad side of the person who taught Aang the bending art I didn't want to try matching against?_' "Hey, wait a minute. What about your promise?"

"I never promised anything." Toph reminded.

'_Dang. Gotta remember to get those verbal agreements out of the way before I help anybody._' "So, what is it that you wanted to know?" He inquired.

"Not much. Just the important details of when you learned how to bend two elements. Just remember that I'll be able to tell if you're lying." Toph smirked. Napu sighed.

"Fine, I'll tell you." '_Definitely gotta get those verbal agreements secured._'…

* * *

A/N: I had originally planned on getting origins put into this chapter, but when I saw that it would have doubled the pages of this chapter, I decided to make it part of a separate chapter. 


	7. Ch 6: Fast Backwards

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.**

A/N: Here it is, chapter 6. Napu's past (For the most part anyway) is finally revealed. So thank you to all my loyal readers, and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

_Flashbacks in Italics._

**Ch 6: Fast-Backwards**

"Any chance of you forgetting everything that you've heard about our exploits?" Lukat asked hopefully, receiving no response from Katara, Sokka or Aang.

"I'm guessing that means no." Tann interpreted.

"Any sign of them, Aang?" Katara asked. Aang shook his head.

"Not yet, but you said the firenation soldiers reported that they had lost Toph and Napu when they got washed away in the rapids, right Sokka?" Sokka nodded.

"Lukat and I heard them talking before they showed us that fireworks display."

"Well, at least we know they got away okay." Aang pointed out. Katara frowned.

"You're forgetting that Toph can't swim, Aang." With this reminder, even Aang's optimism sank.

"You shouldn't worry. Even without a waterbending master, Napu should be able to handle a few rapids." Lukat assured. Katara didn't respond, but Lukat noticed her shoulders loosen up a bit.

'_But, I thought he said that Napu was next to useless with water unless it was frozen_.' Sokka contemplated with his hand clasping his chin. "Aang, guide Appa closer to the ground so we can continue the search on foot. We don't want to leave a path for the enemy to follow again." Aang nodded and pulled on Appa's reins to lower their altitude…

* * *

Toph sat cross-legged, impatiently waiting for Napu to start talking. 

"Would you hurry up already?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have somewhere else you needed to be?" Napu shot back.

"Just get on with it, Mud."

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"Maybe if you're story's interesting enough." She offered wryly. Napu groaned.

"Whatever. I was born in the Northern Water Tribe. My mom was a native waterbender, while my dad was a visiting earthbender merchant; she never did tell me exactly how they met. Shortly after they fell in love, he was called back, leaving my mother to raise me by herself. I spent the first eleven years of my life with her; just the two of us, but that changed once rumors got out about Chief Arnook preparing all able men for an inevitable invasion from the Fire Nation. I didn't really worry about this, because up to that point, I never showed any signs of being a bender. No one seemed surprised by this because my father had been an earthbender, decreasing my chances of being a bender at all." Toph laughed.

"And instead you were capable of both. But how'd you find out that you could earthbend?"

"I'm getting to that." He assured. "A few week passed, and I began to view the rumors as just that. However, our concerns were addressed when an official came to our door while I was out wandering…

_Flashback_

_KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!_

"_Hello?" A voice calls from outside. A woman with long black hair opens the door to find a Northern Tribe Council member standing in her doorway._

"_Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm here on official business from Chief Arnook." The woman nodded before stepping back to allow the man inside. He walked over and sat down at the table, receiving a cup of warm tea an instant later. The woman sat across from him as he took a sip of the warm liquid._

"_I'm sure you know why I'm here, Maya." Maya nodded slowly, a look of distress clearly visible on her face._

"_I'll get right to the point then. With his father gone, Napu is now the eldest male in this household. As is such, it is now his responsibility as a man of the Northern Water Tribe to prepare for war."_

"_But he's not a bender." Maya protested._

"_Be that as it may, he still has an obligation to his tribe to be ready to defend by any means necessary." The official bowed politely and thanked Maya for the tea before heading out the door, leaving Maya with her thoughts…_

_End Flashback_

"Wow, that official seems like he could give Long Feng a run for his money in the stuck-up jerk department." Toph mused.

"Who's that?" Napu wondered.

"Some other time." She assured. "So, what happened next?"

"It turns out that my mother had taken heed of the rumors and had prepared an escape plan for me. At night, she'd been using a shovel and what little waterbending she had learned from watching her father to open up a hole big enough for me to squeeze through. I grabbed a kayak and before I knew it, I was in the Earth Kingdom."

"Doesn't this technically make you a deserter? And isn't that usually punishable by imprisonment? Or even death?" Toph pointed out.

"I try not to think about it, but yeah, I guess that does make me a criminal. I guess it was kind of stupid for me to run away, huh?"

"That depends on the situation. Sometimes it's necessary to run away, because that's the last clear option that you have."

"Have you ever run away when things weren't going your way?" Napu wondered. Toph 'stared' the young fugitive right in the eye before she gave a definitive answer.

"Yes. When my parents left me no option, I ran away with my friends to teach Aang earthbending. Sometimes you have to follow your gut. Mine told me to go with my friends; just like yours told you to go to the Earth Kingdom." Napu gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Actually, the plan was for me to hide out at the Southern Water Tribe. I kind of just ended up in the Earth Kingdom." Toph's jaw dropped open.

"How could you be trying to get to the South Pole and end up in the Earth Kingdom? IT'S IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!" She screamed. The haphazard explorer stretched his arms above his head.

"Well, to say that I have a lousy sense of direction is an understatement, I guess."

"Ya think?" Toph agreed. '_And I thought that Sokka was stupid for entering his sleeping bag headfirst and getting lost when he had to go to the bathroom. Well, okay, that was really stupid, but this is stupidity on a larger scale._'

"So when did you run into your sisters, and how are you related to them? Through your father?" Toph wondered.

"Well, no. I haven't seen any sign of my father; and as far as I know I'm not related to Bali and Tann in any way whatsoever. It was kind of funny how I met them actually."…

_Flashback_

"_Hey, you!" A younger Napu turned his head in the direction of the gruffly voice's origins._

"_I've been ready to order for fifteen minutes! Get your butt over here already!" The man shouted._

"_Coming, sir! Sorry, sir!" A young girl wearing an apron apologized. She hurriedly ran over to the perturbed man's table while being careful not to trip and fall in her unsteady shoes._

"_What will you have, sir?" She asked politely, notebook and quill ready._

"_I'll start off with a green tea and a large bowl of chow-mien noodles." The customer replied._

"_Coming right up, sir. Sorry for the wait."_

"_Don't apologize. Just hurry up and get my food." The customer barked._

"_Right away, sir." She responded politely, but a closer inspection revealed that she was tightly clenching her fists as she stalked off. _

'_May as well stop here for a bite to eat.' Napu decided. 'I may even be treated to a show while I eat.' He walked over to the counter and sat down._

"_What will you have?" A woman asked from behind the counter._

"_What's the cheapest thing you have on the menu? I'm sort of on a low budget right now." The woman nodded and moved further into the kitchen. Napu eyes unconsciously followed the woman's movements until they rested upon the young waitress from before. Her brow was furrowed and she was muttering something unintelligible as she prepared the order for the obnoxious customer. The young boy's observations were put on hold once the counter clanged in front of him. He turned his head, surprised to find an expensive looking bowl of beef and rice with a cup of green tea by its side._

"_Um…thank you, but there's no way that I can afford this." He politely informed the woman. She gave him a warm smile._

"_It's the customary dish for newcomers." She explained. "I don't know how long you plan to stay, but you'll need plenty of energy on your journey."_

"_Thank you." Napu bowed graciously. He picked up his chopsticks, when the girl from before passed him while balancing a tray of food. She walked over to irritable customer and sat the food in front of him._

"_Enjoy your meal." She offered before departing from the table. Before she was out of reach, the rowdy customer reached over and caressed her butt. A large vein popped out of the girl's forehead as she raised a tightly clenched fist to her steadily reddening face._

_She angrily whipped around to face the perverted customer, but the corners of his mouth turned up from behind his shaggy beard to form a knowing smile before he turned to his food and began eating. Clearly frustrated, the waitress began making her way back to the kitchen. Halfway back, she stopped walking, a mischievous smile creeping onto her face. Napu watched as the girl took a horse stance before she swept her right leg across the ground in a reverse arc. A line of dirt shifted on a direct path towards the lecher's chair, sweeping his seat backwards without warning, momentum carrying him face first into his bowl of food._

_A wide grin spread across Napu's face once the noodle-covered face rose from the ceramic dish. The burly man glared at the waitress, who simply smiled in contempt, much in the same manner as he did before she started sauntering off towards the kitchen again. The man ferociously flipped the table as he rose from his seat. The young spectator gasped upon seeing that the young earthbender was completely oblivious to the man's vengeful intentions as she whistled a happy melody. _

"_Hey! Look out!" He called out anxiously, but she paid him no heed. Napu frantically searched for anything that could be used to garner the girl's attention, or at least halt her pursuer. His eyes rested upon the green tea that rested in front of him._

'_May as well give it a try. There's not much else I can do and I probably wasn't going to finish this anyway.' He placed his right hand, fingers spread wide, across the rim of the cup. The tea didn't respond to anything he willed. He looked back towards the approaching man who was noticeably closer than he was before. He turned back to the dormant cup and closed his eyes in concentration._

'_C'mon… C'mon… Freeze already!' He thought desperately. A cold sensation slowly manifested itself in his hand; coupled with a satisfactory feeling attributed as self-confidence. Wasting no time, the proud waterbender hurled the newly formed ball of ice, hitting the hulking form of the man square in the face. The progressively growing red mark failed to hide the sneer on the angry man's face. Napu had no time to revel in his first successful display of bending before the gruff man pulled back his right fist, preparing to strike the unassuming waitress... _

_'Just a little closer and he'll be right where I want him.' The waitress thought with a smirk. Her thoughts were shaken when she was knocked aside by some kid. He turned to face the attacker, arms spread wide, only to receive a large fist to his eye for his selfless, though very foolish, actions. The boy slowly pushed himself to his knees, his left hand applying pressure to his rapidly swelling eye._

'_Who is this kid?' She wondered from her position on the ground. Her eyes rested upon the small ball of ice the kid had thrown. 'He's a waterbender, so what's he doing all the way out here?' She didn't have any more time to think about it before she slammed both fists against the ground to raise an earthen wall to shield the boy from another punch. The assailant cried out in pain when his fist struck the barrier. The young earthbender quickly rose to her feet and thrust her arms forward; a blunt stone spear struck the man's right leg, forcing him to drop to one knee. She turned a quarter-turn to her left and thrust her right fist into the air to raise another stone pillar to the man's jawbone, effectively knocking him unconscious. The boy looked around the stone wall to see the body of the man sprawled out on the dusty, brown dirt. He turned to sheepishly thank the waitress for resolving his failed attempts at heroics, but his voice died in his throat once he saw the looming shadow approaching the girl from behind. She stared at the confusion forming on the boy's face, now taking notice of the sun's receding warmth and the large shadow engulfing her own._

_Before she had time to turn around, a muscular arm wrapped itself around her neck and hoisted her up. She frantically struggled within the grasp of her capturer, but the man's grip would not loosen. Tears welled up in her eyes and her vision began fading from lack of oxygen. She felt her herself losing consciousness, vaguely hearing her mother's voice calling her name._

"_Bali!"…_

_End Flashback_

"So let me get this straight. That shrimp actually saved **your** skin after you stepped in to help her without being able to bend properly?" Toph 'stared' at Napu in disbelief. The reckless boy merely shrugged.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened; and you should know firsthand just how tough she is." He pointed out. Toph's face flushed crimson.

"She just caught me by surprise, that's all."

"Uh-huh."

"Just get back to your story, Mud for brains." Napu glared at her.

_Flashback_ (A/N: I told you that there were a lot of these, but rest assured that this is the last one for this chapter. Also, age wise, this is all taking place three years in the past; meaning that Napu and Lukat are 11, Bali is 12, and Tann is 10.)

_Napu looked on through his functioning eye at the girl's body growing limp as she dangled helplessly from the man's choking embrace. He glanced to the side and saw the woman who had generously served him calling out to her slowly suffocating daughter, Bali. Napu climbed to his feet, and even though his depth perception was severely lacking, raced forward to free her. The determined boy threw his right fist forward, but missed by a large margin and stumbled. Before he hit the dirt, Napu used his forward momentum to lash out with his unguided left fist. As his eyes closed, the desperate strike willed a slab of earth to knock the attacker's legs out from under him, forcing him to let go of Bali before he hit the ground. The cries of Bali's mom were the last thing the mysterious multibender heard before he blacked out…_

_Napu's undamaged eye shot open, his left hand instantly clutching his face where it felt like an ostrich-horse had trampled it._

"_So, you're finally awake, huh?" He turned to the source of the voice to find the girl from earlier sitting on a chair with her chin and arms resting on the back._

"_I'm Bali." She offered. Napu smiled._

"_I'm—"_

"_The next Avatar. I know." She interrupted. Before the mislabeled boy could correct her, the door to the room burst open revealing two children._

"_Bali! Are you okay?" The young, spiky haired boy asked worriedly. Bali yawned drowsily._

"_I'm fine, Lukat. Stop worrying already."_

"_He's only worried because you never take time to rest, sister." The small girl next to the boy reasoned._

"_What are you talking about? I've been resting all week, Tann." Bali defended._

"_What? I've been asleep for a whole week?!?" Napu exclaimed in surprise._

"_No, you've only been sleeping for a couple of hours." Tann assured. "Bali hates lying in bed unless she's asleep or incapable of moving; and even then we have to literally chain sister to the bed." Bali glared at her run-at-the-mouth sister before turning back to the foreigner._

"_I thought that the Avatar was supposed to be this powerful super-being that had mastered all four elements, but you couldn't even handle the lecher."_

"_But I'm not—"_

"_You're the Avatar?" Lukat exclaimed, wide-eyed._

"_No, I'm—"_

"_Wow, Mr. Avatar. Can you show us some bending tricks?" Tann asked hopefully. Napu sat upright and swung his legs over the side of the bed._

"_Listen, all of you. I'm not sure what happened, or why it did, but I'm not the Avatar. My name is Napu, and one minute I'm waterbending for the first time in my life, the next thing I know, the earth suddenly decides to listen to me too." Bali stared at him skeptically._

"_So you're trying to say that you're not the Avatar, but you somehow did both waterbending **and** earthbending?" Napu nodded._

"_Basically." A mischievous sparkle shone in Bali's eyes. _

"_That information never leaves this room, you hear me everyone? As far as anyone knows, Napu here is the next Avatar. Once word gets around, I'm sure all of the creeps around here will clear out for good." Lukat nodded his head in agreement. Napu sighed, a look of resignation on his face. Tann tilted her head in confusion._

"_Does this mean no bending tricks?"…_

_End Flashback_

"Turns out that Bali's plan worked. Everyone accepted my talents as being proof that I was the Avatar, and most if not all of the creeps decided that they wanted to be elsewhere."

"But…?" Napu sighed.

"It had the negative effect of drawing the Fire Nation's attention. Needless to say, I couldn't actually stand up to them with a few weeks of earthbending training from Bali." A pained look that reverberated in his voice crossed the young boy's face; Toph noticed it the instant it appeared before vanishing. "I did the best that I could, but Bali had to come and save me again. She almost didn't make it, and in the end, the Fire Nation destroyed our village, forcing us to flee. We were separated from Tann and Bali's parents, meeting up with Lukat and his family along the way. I decided that it would probably be best if I went off by myself, but my 'sisters' insisted on coming with me despite my protests. Lukat decided that he'd go with us instead of going with the rest of his family to visit his relatives. We've been traveling ever since."

"Wow, and all of this happened because you went left instead of right." Toph realized.

"Pretty much." A long silence went on until something dawned on Toph.

"So, now what?" She inquired. Napu shrugged.

"I don't know about you, but all that bending wore me out. I'm going to catch a little shut-eye." He rested his back on the smooth, gray rocks beneath him and closed his eyes.

"And what am I supposed to do?" Toph angrily demanded.

"I don't know. Listen for our friends, or an attack or something."

"What makes you so sure that I won't just drop a boulder or something on your head when you nod off." Toph warned. Napu's eyes cracked open.

"That actually reminds me." He sat up and placed his palm over her elbow, bending the ice back into water. He then proceeded to unfold his jacket and fashion it into a sling for her arm. Toph sat there silently, a mixture of gratitude and bewilderment present on her face.

"What'd you do that for?" Napu leaned back again and closed his eyes.

"If I'd left the ice there for much longer, you might have gotten frostbite; something we both know I couldn't treat. It's not in your best interest to do any bending in your condition anyway." Toph's nostrils flared in frustration.

"What makes you think you can stop me?" She asked indignantly. Napu opened his eyes, a look clearly indicating that he was losing patience.

"You're forgetting that I'm constantly interacting with a volatile earthbender that I call my sister. The only reason I'm alive is because I've developed ways of incapacitating her. Though, it'll be much easier to deal with you."

"Don't underestimate me! If you had that kind of power, why didn't you use it on me before instead of telling me about your past?" Toph insisted. Napu arranges his hands behind his head and closes his eyes.

"Maybe it's because somewhere in my twisted mind, I've been waiting to share that story with somebody. I don't really know, and I don't see a point in wondering about that now." Toph waited for him to continue before she got up to make good on her challenge.

"You're forgetting that you already told me about your dependency on earth beneath your feet. I wonder, how would your senses fair if I covered the surrounding ground with ice?" Realizing that he had a valid point and a distinct advantage, Toph reluctantly sat back down.

"I may not be the best bender around, of either element for that matter, but I'm pretty clever all the same. Now if I could come up with my ideas before everything blew up in my face, I'd have a lot less to stress about. Oh well." Napu stated smugly before gentle snores conceded him to sleep. Toph sat there disgruntled.

'_It doesn't take the cumulative knowledge of Aang's past lives to foresee that I'm gonna throttle this guy once I get the chance._' Toph tapped her fingers on the ground, thoughts of revenge dancing through her mind as she waited for their friends to find them…

* * *

A/N: Yay, another chapter done. Thanks to all who have read so far. A special thanks goes out to PhoenixClaw for being such a loyal and diligent reader. Thanks again for pointing out all of my grammar mistakes. They somehow elude me even after proofreading. It's going to be a while before I update this story again, mostly because It's been so long since I worked on my pokemon fanfiction which I'm going to work on till I have at least the next two chapters up. In the meantime, feel free to check out some of my other stories as well. Any forms of reviews or criticism is welcome as long as it's a valid point and can be supported with ways in which I can improve. Thanks again for reading. 


	8. Ch 7: Adding Fuel to the Firebenders

A/N: Yeah, I know I'm way behind on this. Six months is a pretty long time, but in my defense, I've seen years between updates. Anyway, here you go.

**Ch 7: Adding Fuel to the Firebenders**

'_So I took a wrong turn at that iceberg and wound up on the northern shore of the Earth Kingdom. Too bad this map doesn't appear every time I close my eyes; I'd never mistake as big as that one again.'_ Napu thought with a snigger.

"_**It was not a mistake."**_ A voice behind him contradicted. Napu turned around and wiped away the sweat that was already gathering on his brow.

"Didn't I ask you to turn off the flames if you wanted to talk again. I'm guessing you must be used to it by now, but even a few years spent in the Earth Kingdom can't erase the fact that I'm still used to sub-zero temperatures."

The wise-looking elder remained ablaze and released a blinding light, forcing Napu to shield his eyes with his forearm. The light faded and was replaced by engulfing darkness, hinting that it was now safe to open his eyes.

The scene had changed dramatically from when he had first closed his eyes. Napu found himself back at the riverside, suspended in the air by a clenched fist gripping his collar; its partner flaming and looking like it would take his head off at the slightest sign of resistance. The face of the firebender holding him was just as warm, but in no way welcoming.

"What part of, 'wake me up if you hear the enemy', didn't you understand, rocks for brains?" Napu inquired gruffly.

"Oh, I understood everything perfectly, mud for brains," Toph shot back from her position underneath a rather lean soldier's foot. "You're the one who didn't understand the 'wake up' part. Were you and Sokka separated at birth?"

Napu's face flushed. He looked around at the soldiers surrounding them and noticed that Toph had managed to take a out a fairly large amount before the remaining troops immobilized her.

"I wasn't sleeping!" Napu protested weakly. "I was meditating!"

"Does a normal person snore when they meditate?"

"Quiet!" The soldier keeping Toph pinned ordered. Toph fumed.

"Who do you think you're talking to? Do you have any idea how many nameless grunts I've buried twelve feet under?" She pointed out. "I bet th—agh!!" Toph cried out in pain when the soldier applied pressure to her bad arm.

"Leave her alone!" Napu demanded.

The commanding officer holding Napu tightened his grip. "You're not in any position to exist, let alone make requests."

Napu gritted his teeth, hoping that their friends would arrive soon…

* * *

"That's a really well crafted boomerang, Sokka!" Tann remarked towards the metal projectile returning to its owner. She dug in her heels to keep the enemy's spear from gaining momentum. His power greatly surpassed her own and she was forced to step aside before sending her foot into the portly man's knee, causing him to cry out in pain as he lost his footing. Tann delivered a shoulder into his chest cavity and let gravity finish the job. She looked over at Sokka to ascertain his situation. 

"Thanks, Tann. It was a gift from my parents."

Sokka smiled as he sidestepped a soldier about twice his size and parried the sword aimed at his midsection. He crossed behind his opponent and delivered a blow to the back of the soldier's helmet with his machete and moved into a ready position to intercept the next one.

"Can I examine it later?" She asked hopefully. Sokka was too busy with his current enemy to respond. He took a swipe at the open air where his adversary stood seconds before, having to quickly bring his weapon back to prevent the enemy's lance from ripping into his flank.

The weapons clashed, and the sheer force of the blades colliding drove Sokka backwards. Sokka stepped on a rock and stumbled, giving the soldier ample opportunity to force his weapon from his hands. Sokka fell hard on his back and looked up to see his opponent ready to skewer him, right before an arrow caught him in between the eyes of his facemask. Sokka took the advantage of the soldier's surprise and kicked the legs from beneath him before he threw his boomerang in a wide arc.

Tann turned her head to trace the path of the flying metal and watched it smack upside the head of a soldier that was about to attack her from behind. Sokka climbed to his feet and retrieved his munitions to their holsters.

'_Now I want one.'_ Tann thought with a smile. They took off down the river, hoping that splitting up to avoid detection was as sound as it sounded…

* * *

"Take a break already, Bali!" Lukat yelled. He heard a roar of frustration come from his left and turned back to the livid looking soldier standing there. The novice bender ran at him full speed and knocked into to him with all the power he could muster. The soldier swore under his breath as he stumbled over a log and was left looking at the clear blue sky. Lukat took the chance to turn his attention back on his friend. 

Bali was continuing to ignore Lukat's requests, sliding her left foot along the ground to displace the earth beneath another soldier's feet. She thrust out her right palm out to send a column of earth into his gut. While he was still doubled over, she stomped her right foot on the ground to direct another column of earth to strike his chin, knocking him out cold. Feeling her strength waning from the pounding in her head, Bali fell to her knees and fought the urge to pass out as her vision began blurring.

Seeing that his friend was in trouble, Lukat grabbed a fallen branch. Dodging the man that was still after him, he took aim at the soldier sneaking up on the unprepared girl.

Thwack!

The branch splintered and hung limply after impact with the man's helmet covered skull. The soldier whipped around, menacing eyes shining through the holes of the skull decorated mask. He raised his hand, fingers curled around a pale orange flame. He raised his hand, fingers curled around a pale orange flame. Lukat took the unspoken hint and turned tail with a trail lazily thrown fireballs nipping at his heels. The tired teen took cover behind a small boulder and compressed his body just before a large ball of heat hit the shield; the burst of flame left behind the pungent odor of burning fabric. The soldier slowly walked savoring the image of the terrified expression he expected to see on the boy's face. He peeked over the boulder with a smirk, but stumbled back when a fast moving object shot past his field of vision. He regained his balance and checked back to see that Lukat had evaded him.

"Up here!"

The firenation soldier barely had any time to respond accordingly before a pair of feet collided painfully with his face. Lukat dismounted from his improvised landing pad and turned the man's helmet backwards on his way down. He gave him a hard push forward, sending the soldier to land on the same rock Lukat used as cover, the air forced out of his lungs with a wheeze. Unfortunately for the soldier, he didn't have a chance to collect himself before a revitalized Bali ran up and punted the rock, along with the soldier, providing him with a nice scenic view.

A crash sounded in the distance causing Bali to smile with glee. She took a step forward and felt her leg buckle. Lukat extended his arms and caught just as she began to fall.

"I told you not to push yourself." Lukat rebuked with a smile. Bali looked up at him, although whether it was an expression of embarrassment or annoyance, he couldn't be sure.

"Let's go already!" She prodded, forcefully pushing herself away from him.

'_Definitely annoyance.'_ He thought, rolling his eyes and walking close behind…

* * *

Aang cleared away a large pack of soldiers with his earthbending, sending them running and tumbling for cover from the miniature avalanches the young monk was unleashing. The only open path would have been to cross the river, but they were prevented by an insurmountable by the name of Katara. 

The master waterbender doused their dwindling flames as well as their spirits with strong riptides that left the remaining soldiers who weren't swept away with a chill of what none would admit as fear for their lives. She finished the job with a powerful breath of air, invoking her thermokinetic abilities to incase their bodies in ice.

"You're sculpting could use some work, Katara." Aang teased. Katara turned around and gave him a playful scowl.

"You just don't know a masterpiece when you see one," Katara replied with a mock pout. "Once Sozin's comet arrives, the world may never see art of this caliber again."

Aang grinned. He stomped his right foot on the ground and raised his arm to the sky, causing the earth beneath the block of ice to shift and slide it into the water to be swiftly carried downstream.

"Never thought I'd actually look forward to that day." He took off running before she could retaliate. Katara's mouth fluttered open slightly before she flashed a toothy grin to his backside.

'_That one's gonna cost you.'_ She silently assured, trying to catch up to his pace…

* * *

Toph put her palm flat on the ground, mentally noting that there were five soldiers remaining, not counting the one digging his boot into the small of her back or the one assaulting what she considered to be the second biggest screw-up next to Snoozles. Three, including the increasingly heavy soldier above her were unarmed – no doubt firebenders – the majority of them focused on their surroundings as if knowing they were in danger of being ambushed. 

Noticing her suspicious actions, the firebender keeping her pinned hauled Toph up by her collar.

"Put me down you stinking pig-chicken! I'm warning you, you don't want to mess with—"

"The greatest earthbender in the world." He finished for her, leaving Napu to wonder how often she boasted today alone, despite the obvious act that she could back it up. The impatient man flung her into the grasp of an armed companion. This one didn't give Toph a chance to speak before he let her feel the cool metal of his Dao by pressing the back of the blade to her throat.

"So, boy," The firebender in charge addressed the tired youth, "As you can see, it would be best if you cooperated, unless you don't care about your little friend."

Napu sighed, unwilling to accept the concept of fame, or infamy, as a fair thing. How fair was it that while some people believed him to be a mere thief unworthy of attention, the goons he was staring down were so certain that he was so important, that they failed to realize that they had already captured a much bigger prize under the alias of the Blind Bandit?

"Actually, she's just some girl that I had the unfortunate luck of meeting while I was wandering around out here. I finally managed to ditch my friends and I still ended up meeting you guys, and worse in the form of a girl who won't shut up." Napu explained. "Sorry, but she won't be of much use as collateral."

"Why you little…" Toph began, doing her best to shake off the hand restraining her. "I don't care what they do with me so long as I can bury you so deep, Twinkletoes at full power couldn't dig you up!"

Napu ignored her, keeping his full attention on the deceptively calm face possessing the same owner as the fist still latched onto him. "I know she's caused you guys a lot of stress, I know all too well." Napu assured. "But if you let her go, I can guarantee that I'll go quietly. I'm sure your under orders to bring me in one piece, but there's no way for that to happen if you bring he along and she talks my ear off."

As if to reinforce his point, Toph directed some colorful language towards the morally deficient multi-bender.

"As you can see, she's not to fond of me. I bet the only reason she attacked you was because you started harassing her." Napu mentally patted himself on the back once he saw the gears turning in the firebender's head. The well-tempered firebender switched his gaze from Napu and placed it on the earthbending girl attempting to bite the hand restraining her. Napu discreetly bit his lower lip, hoping that at least Toph could get out of this mess and inform their friends of the situation.

"Put her down," The commander ordered. "But if she moves an inch, shish-ka-bob and roast her."

The soldier holding her nodded and placed her feet back onto solid ground. He immediately placed his sword no more than an inch from her nose, prompting Toph to remain still less she wanted a new nostril. She felt the footsteps as the two of the three spear holders placed themselves at either side of her. Her last direction of escape was cut off with the placement of the firebender who probably left an imprint in her back. The remaining firebender took position by the river, facing upstream. The remaining soldier walked behind Napu and bound the boy's hands behind his back with rope and secured it with a tight knot before taking his position adjacent to his comrade, field of vision focused downstream.

"So, who's the lucky guy who gets to carry me?" Napu wondered. "I've had about three hours of sleep, and I get cranky with less than six." As if to emphasize his point, he yawned long and loud, muttering something unintelligible.

Toph's eyes narrowed. Napu grinned at the commanding officer, but the he wasn't expecting a response in the form of a kick across the face. Toph flinched at the sound, but remained rooted in place to avoid antagonizing her new "friends". Napu wiped his mouth with his shoulder and found fresh blood.

"I know you like the color red, but was that really necessary?"

The commander approached him slowly. He opened his mouth to berate the boy—choosing to chuckle instead at the look of shock on the boy's face.

"You know what, boy, the best part of this job is the look I see on someone's face when they realize that they're not in control of the situation. Can you imagine the thrill I'm getting from watching the expression on your face?"

"Well, no," Napu promptly replied. "I can't relate to you, because I don't want to see that thing you call a face, regardless of what it's expressing."

The commander bit back fire. There was no way he was going to let some little urchin rile him. "Care to repeat that, brat?' He questioned venomously.

Napu grinned. "Yeah. I said if you were on a wanted poster, the reward for turning you in wouldn't cover the cost of therapy a person would need—"

Napu was abruptly cut off when the commander delivered a knee into his midsection. Napu's already battered side screamed in agony as he tried to recollect the air that was forcibly removed from his lungs.

Toph clenched her fists in frustration. _'Is that idiot trying to get himself killed?'_

Napu rolled to his knees and shakily stood up. "Then again, my Mom always tried to teach me that it's not important how you look on the outside. I guess I understand, but all I'm looking at is a bunch of cowards. Who needs to use a sword against a little girl anyway?"

The soldier in question opted not to fall for Napu's taunting, but he still moved the tip of the blade a good two inches to the left.

Napu continued his gibes. "And what's with the spears, huh? Aren't you guys overcompensating? I bet your boss here has a much smaller weapon."

The commander finally reached his patience limit with that last remark. He swiftly stepped in and threw his arms out to send an all-consuming fireball at the impudent brat. Napu stared at the blast with a blank expression.

'_I hope everyone won't be too mad at me.'_

His fate was changed when a wave of water from the river behind him cascaded past, drenching him as well as putting out the lethal flame. Before either sentry had a chance to respond, a pair of water whips entangled around their necks and sent them into the river before a sudden surge washed them away.

Toph took advantage of the enemy's hesitation, sending both spear wielders flying with an outward thrust of her arms. Her elbow throbbed in protest and gave the sword holder an opening. He aimed the blade at her heart, only to watch it shatter when Toph pressed her palms onto either side, sheer willpower tapping into her metalbending. She took the initiative and forcefully pressed her foot into the earth to send a column of rock into his stomach.

Seeing that he and the commander were the only ones left, the remaining firebender grunt turned tail and ran, or at least until a familiar blue boomerang knocked him upside the head and rendered him unconscious. The commander of the now incapacitated unit weighed his options carefully. He figured that even though they were children, facing two waterbenders, an earthbender, and a young water tribe warrior would not lead to a favorable outcome. He turned towards the steep hill opposite the river and surmounted it with long, powerful strides. Just when it seemed as though he would escape through the cover of trees, an arrow pierced his pants leg and pinned him to a nearby tree. He raised his arms and ignited them, but two additional arrows pierced his sleeves and kept them suspended above his head. He looked up just in time to see a flash of blue before Sokka knocked him out with his club.

"Toph!" Katara cried out, running past a completely drenched Napu with Aang close behind. Katara wrapped her arms around Toph's head and pulled the girl into her bosom. "I'm so glad you're okay. All of us were so worried!"

Aang expressed his agreement by throwing his arms around both of them.

"Ow, that hurts, Twinkletoes! You're supposed to bend the air around you, not crush it out of my lungs!" Toph yelped.

Both Aang and Katara released their grips immediately to allow the earthbender some breathing room. It was then that they noticed that Napu's jacket fashioned into a sling around her neck. Katara's eyes focused on the way Toph gingerly held onto her left arm. She instantly, though gently, grabbed hold of the the young girl's arm that was already swelling from the strenuous activity.

"Oh, that. Turns out that mud for brains isn't a master waterbender. Who knew?"

Katara ignored her "little sister's" sense of humor and bended the water out of her waterskin to heal Toph's wounds for the second time today. Mercy, this was becoming a regular ordeal.

Sokka slid down the hill and approached his friends. He considered making a crack about his crushed hopes of Toph being washed out to sea, but cringed at the remark once he remembered the situation at the Serpent's Pass. Now that they had put that incident behind them, which to this day he still doesn't know why she was so angry that it was Suki who saved her, he didn't want to bring it up; the fact that Toph now had two fully functioning arms helped to dissuade him as well.

"Hey, Katara, I know that you two have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I think that Napu could use a session."

Katara glanced over at the boy in question and saw Tann cutting the ropes binding his hands with a knife she pulled from her boot. Aang, Sokka and Toph gave expectant looks, convincing Katara to somewhat grudgingly walk over to him while muttering something compassionate waterbenders and fortunate jerks.

"Stand still," Katara instructed. "I suppose this is the least I can do since you kept Toph safe." Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered how the two of them were washed downstream in the first place, but she pushed those thoughts aside for now to better focus her healing abilities.

Napu ignored her and began walking towards the spot where the unconscious commander lay, nearly bumping into Katara as he staggered past. Katara opened her mouth to ask him what his problem was, but he cut her off.

"She was in danger because they wanted me. She may not be my friend, or someone I'm even mildly concerned about, but I won't just stand there and let someone else suffer for my bad luck."

"But…"

"Just leave me alone. Your family's back together, so let me go find the rest of mine. C'mon, Tann!." He called back. Tann remained idle and watched.

'_Spirits, what did I do in a past life to deserve to meet up with these jerks.'_

Aang ran up beside Napu and kept pace with the boy's unsteady steps. "Why are you so angry? Katara was just trying to help you know!"

Napu grunted in response. They came to the steep slope and Napu began grabbed onto a rock and started looking for footholds.

"Wouldn't it be a lot easier to bend?" Aang wondered. He innocently demonstrated the preferred method, slowly rising on a column of earth until he was looking down on Napu's damp, shaggy head. Napu remained focused on where he was putting his feet next when he grabbed a loose root and came tumbling down to land hard on his back.

Aang raised an eyebrow and winced at the sound. "Sure you don't want some help?" Napu seemed complacent to just lay there and stare at the sky. With one air enhanced leap, Aang landed beside Katara just as Sokka and Toph approached from her left.

"Are we dressed in Fire Nation robes or something?" Sokka pondered. The four of them turned their attention on Tann, who was in the process of biting into an apple she had pulled from her rucksack.

"Brother never asks for help if he's hurt. It's just the way he is." Tann answered before anyone could ask her. Feeling that the matter had been properly addressed, the young girl went back to enjoying her snack.

Katara crossed her arms and smiled sardonically. "Another case of macho pride, huh?"

Sokka adverted his gaze from his sister and took interest in a sparrow-mouse collecting twigs for its nest.

"Sounds about right," Toph agreed. "I was about to drop him to the other side of the world for all the things he was saying about me."

"What did he say?" Aang wondered.

"Just a bunch of bull-elephant."

"Actually, I do think you talk too much," Napu assured. "You might want to work on that."

To everyone's dismay, Toph didn't retaliate. "Hurry up and fix him up, Katara. I'd feel bad about killing a half-dead person." The small girl patted her friend's shoulder as she walked past. Sokka followed after her.

"Wait up, Toph! We should go find Bali and, Lukat!"

"Yeah, yeah. Coming, Tann?"

Tann gestured towards Aang and herself while trying to talk with her mouth full. Seeing that everyone was giving her blank stares, she opted to not try talking with chunks of apple in her mouth. "I'll go with Aang back to Appa. We'll meet up here in about twenty minutes, okay?"

Everyone agreed and took off to find the remaining jailbirds, leaving Katara with the current source of aggravation. Katara crossed her arms and slowly approached him, not really sure of how to start.

"I think the match sticks need your attention more."

Katara reeled back slightly. She hadn't expected him to speak first, but intended on keeping the communication line open.

"None of them are too seriously injured, so I have no qualms about letting them get some much needed rest." She smiled gently, waiting for him to respond.

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't go with them. I'm fine, and it would be a lot easier to take us to jail if I couldn't resist."

Katara stammered a bit, but she couldn't deny that he had guessed her intentions. Napu closed his eyes, expecting to hear her footsteps signaling her departure; instead he found himself feeling the cool healing waters taking the edge off of his pain.

"What are you…"

"It's true. We do intend to take you and your friends to jail." She admitted.

"They why?"

"You're not the first jerk I've met along the way. I given many people my trust, and some of them have returned it" Her thoughts turned to Jet. "Some gave everything to earn it, while others threw it away for selfish desires." Napu saw her fist tighten, and wondered if she was speaking about anyone in particular. "If you do anything to betray this trust I'm putting in you now, end of the world or not, you'd better hope we never see each other again."

The glowing stopped when she retracted the water, and Napu rose to his feet feeling significantly better than before he woke up this morning. He smiled to himself at a sudden idea.

"I know I owe you and your friends a lot already, but can I ask you a favor?"

Katara nodded. Her eyes became wide with disbelief upon hearing his outrageous request….

* * *

Sokka and Toph plowed through the soft grass side by side as they searched for Lukat and Bali. Toph was being uncharacteristically silent, so Sokka was attempting to make conversation to pass the time. 

"So, what made you so sure that Napu was trying to give you a chance to escape?" He looked out of the corner of his eyes, but her face betrayed nothing. After what seemed like an eternity, Toph responded.

"He yawned."

Sokka looked on confused. "And that means…"

"My feet were off the ground the majority of the time, so I couldn't tell what his intentions were. He made out like he was tired and yawning, but I picked up on him telling me to run at first chance. As soon as they put me down, the idiot started directing all aggression towards himself."

"That sure was brave of him."

"About as brave as a certain ungrateful meathead pushing his girlfriend out of danger, only to put himself in need of saving and ignore his rescuer." Toph muttered to herself. Before Sokka had a chance to ask what she had said, they both heard voices in the distance.

"Would you hurry up?"

"Hey, I know you're tired too, so if you feel like going on without me, be my guest."

Toph stuck her and in front of Sokka to stop him and put a finger to her lips. They peeked around a tree and found Lukat sitting on a rock with his arms crossed. Standing next to him was Bali. She had already given up on pulling him up, and was now resting her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently with a look of annoyance.

"How much time before we have to go meet back at the rendezvous?" Toph whispered. Sokka traced the path of the sun.

"About fifteen minutes I'd say. Why?"

Toph didn't respond. She kicked at the ground with a soil-disrupting shockwave in Bali's direction. Bali felt the tremors too late and had the ground snake beneath her feet, sending her stumbling backwards. She regained her balance and traced the attack back to its source.

"Hey, Toph! Are both you and Napu okay?" Lukat greeted, completely oblivious to what had just taken place.

Toph nodded. "We're both fine, but I'll be even better once I finish this."

Lukat shifted his gaze from Toph, to Bali, and back again before it dawned on him.

"I'm game." Bali responded, silently wishing her body was as ready as she made it sound…

* * *

A/N: I know it's a lot to ask because I haven't updated in so long (My pokefic was time consuming, and so was the game), but I'd still like some feedback. It's been so long I'm not sure whether or not I've lost my touch at this... 


	9. Ch 8: Settling a Score ReLiving a Sore

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters.**

A/N: This is pretty short compared to my other chapters, but it's not short on action.

**Ch 8: Settling a Score; Re-Living a Sore**

Bali's toes raked the dirt beneath her feet as she stared Toph down apprehensively. She took one look at her opposition's gaze and suddenly wished that she had stayed in bed this morning. Not wanting to give the Blind Bandit any more advantage, Bali took the initiative and stomped her left foot through the earth's crust.

The land directly beneath Toph's feet's right foot began to rise by Bali's command, but the master earthbender was already prepared. Toph jumped back away from the unstable ground and kicked up a collection of rocks, which she sent in Bali's direction with a thrust from her palms.

Though not a master herself, Bali still had a few tricks under her sleeves. She thrust her arms into the air to direct a small radius of rock to rise into the air, causing the shower of projectiles to harmlessly hit the perch beneath her. She had no time to counterattack though, because with a deceptively simply maneuver of tucking her arms in and stomping the ground with her left foot, she forced her arms out to send a wave of stone shards to sever Bali's column of earth.

Bali felt the platform crumbling beneath her feet. As she was plummeting back to the ground, she clapped her hands together to fuse the individual pieces of Toph's attack into a single slope of stone, and began sliding down on a direct path to Toph. Toph smirked, having no intention of letting her slide unopposed. She thrust her arms to the side before bringing them up, in turn raising a line of crude earth walls directly in Bali's path. Bali gritted her teeth and crossed her arms in front of her face to brace for impact. She got through about half of them before she lost her focus and crashed into the next one. The pain from the impact caused her vision to swim. With her orientation gone, she slipped off the slide about ten feet up, and would have surely hit the ground if Lukat had not managed to catch her.

His face was full of concern for her as he gently placed her on the ground. After a brief moment, her brow furrowed before she opened her eyes and tried to focus her mind on what she was seeing. Sitting above her were two sets of eyes imbedded in relieved-looking faces.

"Did I win?" She asked groggily. Lukat and Sokka exchanged glances.

"Well…"

"No." Someone else took the liberty of answering.

Bali sat up abruptly, instantly regretting the action once her head started throbbing. She shifted to her knees and began massaging her temple, not even taking notice to Toph approaching until she was standing right in front of her. Bali opened her mouth to say something, but Toph beat her to it.

"That was pathetic!" The sharpness of her words cut deep, but Bali made no effort to defend herself.

Not having any personal experience with bending, Sokka couldn't say for sure what drew the line between well and poorly performed earthbending. Which is why he wasn't sure about Bali's abilities versus the world's greatest bender, The Boulder. Not that he thought Toph was bad in her own right of course.

"I'd expect that kind of performance from your brother, but I'd have to say the most embarrassing thing was that you knocked me off my feet; even if it was because my guard was down.

Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything, Lukat grew frustrated. "I don't care if you're the Avatar's earthbending master! Bali's a great bender, and you have no right to say otherwise just because you beat her!"

Bali shook her head. "No, she's right. Just because I've beaten a few novices, it doesn't mean I'm great."

"But…"

"She brought up a very valid point, but something still doesn't add up." Everyone waited for Toph to voice her suspicions. "Your stance is solid, and your forms are firm. You seem to have good control, but you lack the power that earthbending is known for."

The synopsis hung in the air, waiting for Bali to elaborate.

"It happened when my village was being plundered."

"Does this have anything to do with the Fire Nation attacking your village?" Toph wondered.

"It was when I was training with my grandmother. I was twelve at the time..."

_Flashback_

"_Now maintain that stance, and follow the motions as I do them." An elderly woman instructed. _

_Her pupil, a young girl with dark hair, nodded obediently; she mirrored the motions as best she could, but was unable to achieve the desired results. Frustrated at her continued failure, she stomped her foot repeatedly, causing small tremors to extend to the edges of the training ground._

_The grey-haired woman smiled, chestnut eyes radiating understanding for her granddaughter's actions._

"_Now, now, Bali. This technique takes years to master." She consoled. Despite her sensible words, the girl's expression remained downcast. The elder sighed and smiled. "Would you like to see it again?" She asked gently._

"_Yes please, Sifu Adala."_

_Adala shifted into her horse-stance and closed her eyes to aid her concentration. She stood up straight, eyes still closed, and brought her palms together as if she was praying. Her eyes shot open as she thrust her arms forward, and as she pulled her arms back, pieces of rock were drawn to her and seamlessly fused around the contours of her body like a protective shell. The only evidence of mortality present in the golem was the same pair of kind eyes peeking through the two-by-four gap purposely left in the earthen armor._

"_Soon you'll see, Bali. It's as simple as it looks."_

"_Um, Grandma…"_

"_I did it again, huh?"_

_Bali nodded with a sheepish smile and pointed to her grandmother's left side. Adala sighed exasperatedly and covered the gap she inadvertently left in the armor._

"_I guess I'm getting to old for this."_

_A knock on the wall sounded. Bali thrust her palms down to make a doorway in front of the person outside. A middle-aged woman scuttled through the newly formed opening. There was an apprehensive aura about her, even when she spied the person she was looking for._

"_Is there something wrong, Namiya?"_

"_It's those rouge soldiers from the Earth Kingdom forces again. They're harassing the people at my shop. Keidé is trying to hold them off, but that earthbender with the hammers is too much for him."_

_The kind face of Adala melted with her armor, leaving only a cold exterior derived from losing your husband to reckless bullies._

"_Let's hurry, Sifu!" Bali urged, barely remembering to address her teacher respectfully. She took a step towards the door before she was pulled back by the collar of her shirt and thrown on her butt. "Hey!" She exclaimed. Further protesting was aborted once she saw her Grandmother's cold gaze._

"_Stay!"_

_Bali only nodded, watching her Grandmother leave her and Namiya behind…_

_End Flashback_

Toph was now crossing he legs and resting her chin in the palm of one hand.

"Obviously you followed, got there just in time to get in the way, and nearly died before your Grandmother rescued you."

Bali took the strands of her dangling in front of her eyes and tucked them behind her ears. "Actually, some of the villagers banded together to drive them out of town. I managed to hold my own against the earthbender wielding two war hammers for a few minutes before he caught me in the back of the head. I didn't wake up until the fighting was long over. It turns out that my Father managed to chase them out, with help from my Mom and Tann of course."

"And your Grandmother?" Sokka asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

Bali's head lowered, and Toph could feel the faint vibrations caused from Bali's tears hitting the ground.

"They weren't too strong for her, but she was getting on in the years." Lukat spoke up. "They managed to find a weak spot in her armor and sent her tumbling. Her body just couldn't take it."

Sokka frowned. "I'm sorry." He said, knowing too well the pain of losing someone close to you.

"I didn't just lose my Grandmother on that day. I was unconscious for a week, and when I finally woke up, I couldn't move a pebble without nearly passing out again." Bali became so distraught over her memories that she began digging her fingers into the ground. Lukat put his hands on her shoulders, but her was at a loss of words to comfort her.

"You may have a bit of trouble with some of the wide-range techniques, but in your sister's eyes you're still one of the greatest earthbenders." He offered with a smile.

"That's because she doesn't know!" She shouted, slamming her hand through the ground. "Nobody else knows! Not Tann…not Napu…not even my own parents know!" Lukat began rubbing her back to get her to calm down. "Everyone still thinks that I'm some sort of prodigy, when all I am is –waah!"

Bali's pity party was paused when Toph pushed her back about five feet with her bending. Lukat and Sokka scrambled to the side to avoid what was obviously the start of another skirmish.

Bali rolled to her feet. "What's your problem?" She demanded. "Are you trying to start something again?"

Toph lazily stood up, picking at the wedgie starting to form. "Does it matter? You're not going to do anything about it." Toph pronounced.

"Oh, yeah, what makes you so sure that I'm going to take that?"

To Bali's surprise, Toph turned around and began walking back in the direction she and Sokka had come from.

"Where are you going? I can take anything you can throw at me!"

Toph stopped walking and turned around. "Make up your mind." Bali stared back in confusion. "Just a second ago you were crying about how weak you are, and now you're back to thinking you actually stand a chance against me. If you've gotten past your pebble pushing problem, maybe you should put less energy into whining and more into strengthening your bending."

Bali was taken aback, but she refused to give in. "Don't talk like you know anything about my life. What would you know about having to meet your parents expectations for you?"

Toph smirked. "Actually, I know a lot about expectations. To this day, my parents think of me as nothing more than a helpless blind girl. Even after they witnessed me single-handedly save Twinkletoes, they sat on their brains and told me I needed more sheltering."

Bali's next word died in her throat upon hearing this. She had always assumed by the rumors of Toph's, or rather the Blind Bandit's strength and skill, that her parents had considered her a blessed gift. Though she figured that someone of Toph's reputation would be bigger, not that she was towering over anyone herself, and that her parents would have been honored to have her teach the Avatar, not feel that it was necessary to smother her by being overprotective.

"But then again, we are different people. I refused to accept the labels my parents tried to give me, and pushed forward like any good earthbender should. You just mope and cry about not being as good as you used to be." She turned around and started walking again.

Sokka turned to follow but not before calling back, "We've all lost loved ones, and some of us have gone through trying ordeals, but that shouldn't stop you from living a strong life. It may not be a happy struggle, but are you happy with the way things are now?"

Bali shook her head, sending more tears cascading down her face. Sokka smiled.

"Then make some changes. For if the boulder can climb the ranks against other fearsome earthbenders, then taking charge of your own life should be a piece of meat." Sokka gave a thumbs up and a wink before running after Toph.

Lukat turned to his friend. "You okay?"

Bali wiped her face with her sleeve. She smiled a sad smile at him.

"No…but I'm the one who has to change that."

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this exchange. I figured that this fight was necessary seeing as their last bout was over before either could show their stuff. C'mon, like we didn't already know that Toph would own her if she fought back seriously. I made Bali a bit unique people, but that shouldn't have made your faith in me waver. Now to continue working on my new Inuyasha story. After that comes an update for **Sokka's Stubborn Streak.**


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